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NEW DELHI: A Dalit youth was allegedly beaten and humiliated by four men in Katni district, Madhya Pradesh, after opposing illegal mining, police said on Thursday.The incident occurred on Tuesday in Matwara Village, about 45 kilometres from the district headquarters, under the jurisdiction of Bahoriband police station.Victim Rajkumar Chaudhary alleged, “Pawan Pandey, who is also the village sarpanch’s son, urinated on me, subjected me to casteist slurs and threatened to kill me if I approached police,” as quoted by PTI.The assault is said to have followed a dispute over the sarpanch’s decision to fill gravel in the gram panchayat. Chaudhary claimed that the accused were carrying out illegal mining near his farm, which he had opposed.Additional superintendent of police Santosh Deharia said, “Ramanuj Pandey, Ram Bihari Pandey, Pawan Pandey and Satish Pandey allegedly assaulted and insulted Rajkumar Chaudhary. All five are residents of Matwara village. A case was registered under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act today. The four are on the run and efforts are on to nab them.”The incident mirrors a similar case in Sidhi district in 2023, around 200 kilometres from Katni, where a tribal youth was also urinated upon. The case had drawn national attention and became a major issue during the assembly polls later that year.
