Madhya Pradesh: Why did the police beat up the Dalit female sweeper on Mahaparinirvan Day?
SP took action, one policeman including woman ASI suspended, CSP is investigating the matter
Published on: 06 Dec 2023, 2:45 pm
Bhopal. The country is remembering Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar today on Mahaparinirvan Day. Meanwhile, a news from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh has shocked everyone. Here a case of brutal beating of a Dalit female sweeper by the police has come to light. This incident has once again forced the deprived Bahujan community to unite and fight against the anarchical system.
In fact, on Tuesday, on the eve of Baba Saheb’s Mahaparinirvan Day, a woman SI and a constable posted at Omati police station in Jabalpur brutally beat a Dalit woman sweeper on suspicion of theft. It is alleged that without registering an FIR, after beating her with belt and shoes for four hours, the woman was thrown out of the police station in an injured condition. As soon as the woman’s family members and community members came to know about the incident, they surrounded Omati police station. The people of the society also reached the police station with the injured woman and told how brutally the Omati police had beaten her.
After the uproar that lasted for several hours at Omati police station, the SP took action against the guilty policemen, suspended them and handed over the investigation to the CSP. The woman who was injured after being beaten by the police has been admitted to the district hospital for treatment. The woman suffered serious injuries on her hands, legs and back. The woman’s treatment is currently continuing.
According to the victim’s family members, Manju Bashankar, a resident of Shitala Mai, Jabalpur city, has been working as a sweeper in a private hotel located at Rals Chowk for the last ten years. There was a party in the hotel on 1 December. When Manju was cleaning after the party was over. During this time he got a gold bracelet. Manju kept the bracelet with herself thinking that there is no manager in the hotel right now, she will give it tomorrow.
The next day Manju reached the hotel and told her fellow cleaning staff that a gold bracelet was found in the party yesterday and was kept in my jacket. You see, I will come after telling sir. After some time Manju returned and saw that the bracelet was not in the jacket. When Manju asked Manoj, he clearly denied that he did not know anything. The hotel manager gave Manju and Manoj two days time to bring the bracelet.
Dalit sweeper woman injured in the police station premises. The Mooknayak
Manju said that the bracelet was in my jacket. And I told this to Manoj. When the bracelet was not found even after two days, a complaint was lodged at Omati police station. On December 4, at around 5 pm, the police of Omati police station reached the hotel and brought Manju Banshkar along with Manoj, Premwati and Monu to the police station for questioning. Manju Banshkar alleges that the police started beating her at 5 pm and continued till 9 pm. SI Sunita and constable Ruby kept beating him with belts and shoes.
After this the police threw him out of the police station. The victim informed the family about the incident, after which she was admitted to the hospital. Manju, who was injured after being beaten by the police, is undergoing treatment in the district hospital. Manju says that when the police got tired of beating her for four hours, they left me injured outside the police station without telling anything to anyone.
When the people of Banshkar community came to know about the incident, they surrounded Omati police station. Pooja Banshkar, District President of Vanshkar Samaj, said that if the police had suspected Manju of theft, they would have registered an FIR against her and taken proper action, but the police did not do so. The police kept beating Manju for four hours and then released her without any complaint.
There was a demand of Banshkar community that no one will go out of the police station until action is taken against the guilty policemen. The police officers kept explaining to the angry people, but here people remained adamant on demanding action against the guilty policemen. When SP Aditya Pratap Singh came to know about this incident, he suspended SI Sunita Panch and constable Ruby. Also, investigation has been handed over to CSP Pankaj Shukla. CSP Pankaj Shukla said that on the instructions of the Superintendent of Police, both the accused policemen have been suspended and investigation has been instituted. After investigation we will send the report to the SP.
Atrocities against women are not stopping in MP
According to the data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), MP ranks 5th in the entire country in terms of crimes against women. At the same time, in the case of rape with women, it is at third place after Rajasthan and UP.
The state has come at third position in the case of rape of women. 3029 cases have been reported here. Before this, there were 3,690 rape cases in UP and 5,399 rape cases in Rajasthan. In 98 percent of the cases in MP i.e. 2983 cases, the accused knew the victim woman. At the same time, in 259 cases the accused were family members and in 1407 cases the accused were either friends or live-in partners and separated husbands. There were only 46 such cases in the state in which the rapists were strangers or unknown people.
Situation is improving
According to the data released by the Static Department of the State Police Headquarters, there was an increase of 19.6 percent in atrocities against women in 2020-21. Whereas in 2021-22 it has reduced to 6.8 percent. Similarly, while 4160 cases of rape were registered in the first 6 months of the year 2022, it came down to 3450 in the year 2023. If seen this way, there has been a decline of 17 percent. There has been a decline of 1.2 percent in POCSO cases.
