Two Dalit Children Beaten to Death for Defecating in Open in MP; Mayawati Raps BJP, Cong Governments

Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh): Two Dalit children were allegedly beaten to death by two persons for defecating on a street in front of a panchayat building in Madhya Pradesh's

Shivpuri district on Wednesday, police said.

The father of one of the deceased alleged they were facing discrimination over their caste in Bhavkedhi village where the incident took place in the morning.

The two accused, Hakim Yadav and his brother Rameshwar Yadav, have been arrested and booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section for murder and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said Sirsod police station's inspector RS Dhakad. The investigation so far suggests there are only two accused, he added.

The accused attacked the children when the latter were defecating on a street in front of the panchayat building around 6.30 am, the police said, quoting complaints filed by the deceased's parents.

The two children — Roshani Balmiki, 12, and Avinash Balmiki, 10 — suffered serious injuries and were rushed to the district hospital where doctors declared them dead, the police said.

The deceased boy's father, Manoj Balmiki, claimed they were allowed to draw water from the village hand-pump only after all the other residents had done so. "I had a heated argument with the accused two years ago and they abused me over caste lines and threatened to kill me. They wanted me to work for them as a labourer for a meagre sum," he said.

Terming the killing of the children "unfortunate", Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati slammed the successive BJP and Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh for "failing to provide proper toilet facilities".

"Besides keeping millions of Dalits, backwards and religious minorities deprived of government facilities, they have also been made a victim of all kinds of malicious atrocities and in such a situation the dastardly violence of two Dalit youth in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri is most unfortunate and condemnable," she said in a tweet in Hindi.

In another tweet, she said, "The Congress and BJP governments should explain why proper toilet facilities have not been provided in the houses of poor Dalits and backward communities? If this truth is very bitter then those who beat to death the Dalits for being forced to defecate in the open should be hanged."

Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in the village, which is located around 25 km from the district headquarters, the police added.

The incident comes days after a differently-abled man was killed and two others were injured after a mob beat them on suspicion of slaughtering a cow in Jharkhand.