MP man reportedly connected to BJP seen urinating on Tribal man in viral video; Booked
Sidhi (MP), Jul 4: Police in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district on Tuesday registered a case after a video showing a man urinating on a tribal youth went viral.
Opposition Congress claimed that the accused was linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ruling party, however, denied the allegation.
"A viral video from Sidhi district has come to my notice....I have instructed the administration to arrest the culprit and take the strictest action and also invoke the National Security Act," Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a tweet.
An official from the Chief Minister's Office said a case was registered against the accused, identified as Pravesh Shukla, at Bahari police station under Indian Penal Code sections 294 (obscene acts), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Action against the stringent NSA was also initiated, he added.
State Congress chief Kamal Nath in a statement said, "A video of atrocity of (a man) urinating on a tribal youth from Sidhi district of the state has surfaced. There is no place for such a heinous act with the youth of tribal community in civilised society."
The former chief minister also said that the culprit was said to be associated with the BJP.
Madhya Pradesh already ranks first when it comes to atrocities against tribals, he said.
"This incident has put entire Madhya Pradesh to shame....strictest punishment should be given to the guilty person and atrocities on tribals in Madhya Pradesh should be stopped," Nath added.
State BJP media in-charge Ashish Agarwal said the accused was not associated with the party.
"The BJP will always oppose every heinous act against the tribal community. MP BJP demands the strictest action against this person," Agarwal said.
Both the BJP and Congress have been trying to woo the tribal community in the state ahead of the year-end Assembly elections.
Some social media posts claimed that the accused Pravesh Shukla was a representative of BJP MLA from Sidhi Kedarnath Shukla. The MLA could not be contacted for his comment despite several attempts.
Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress's Media and Publicity Department, shared the video clip along with a picture of a banner on which the accused was described as `Vidhayak Pratinidhi Sidhi'.
"In the 21st century, such inhuman atrocities are happening with the tribals of our country and we are dreaming of becoming Vishwaguru! What could be more embarrassing for all of us than this?" he tweeted.
प्रदेश के सीधी जिले से एक आदिवासी युवक के ऊपर पेशाब करने की क्रूरता का वीडियो सामने आया है। आदिवासी समाज के युवक के साथ ऐसी जघन्य और गिरी हुई हरकत का सभ्य समाज में कोई स्थान नहीं है।
— Kamal Nath (@OfficeOfKNath) July 4, 2023
आरोप है कि पेशाब करने वाला व्यक्ति भारतीय जनता पार्टी से जुड़ा हुआ बताया जा रहा है।
मध्य प्रदेश…
इक्कीसवीं शताब्दी में हमारे देश के आदिवासियों के साथ इस तरह का अमानवीय अत्याचार हो रहा हो और हम देख रहे हैं विश्वगुरु बनने का सपना!
— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) July 4, 2023
इस से ज़्यादा शर्मनाक हम सबके लिए और क्या हो सकता है? pic.twitter.com/Ctjqmsib8c
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Our relationship with both India and Pakistan is 'good': US
New York/Washington (PTI): America’s relationship with both India and Pakistan is “good”, the US State Department has said, asserting that the diplomats are "committed to both nations".
Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US working with both nations is good news for the region and the world, and will promote a beneficial future.
“I would say that our relationship with both nations is as it has been, which is good. And that is the benefit of having a President who knows everyone, talks to everyone, and that is how we can bring differences together in this case. So it's clear that the diplomats here are committed to both nations,” Bruce said.
She was responding to a question on the possibility of increased US assistance to Islamabad in terms of arms sales following Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s meeting with Trump, and whether this was coming at the cost of Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the May conflict between India and Pakistan, Bruce added, “Obviously, we had an experience with Pakistan and India when there was a conflict, one that could have developed into something quite horrible.”
She said that there was "immediate concern and immediate movement" with Vice President J D Vance, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in “addressing the nature of what was happening….we described the nature of the phone calls, the work that we did to stop the attacks and to then bring the parties together so we could have something that was enduring."
She also claimed that top leaders in the US were involved in “stopping that potential catastrophe.”
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Bruce added that the recent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan “follows negotiated peace arrangements between Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo.”
Meanwhile, in an interview on Tuesday, Rubio said that “credit goes to” Trump for helping bring several conflicts around the world to an end.
Trump says he wants “to be the President of peace. And so any time we see a conflict where we think we can make a difference, we get involved, and we’ve had good success in that regard. India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, the peace deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia, just a few days ago,” he said in an interview with ‘Sid and Friends in the Morning’.
