MP: Tribal woman thrashed by villagers over suspected affair
paraded after being made to carry husband on shoulders
Dewas, Jul 4: A tribal woman, suspected to be having an extra-marital affair, was thrashed by a group of villagers and paraded after being made to carry her husband on her shoulders in Madhya Pradesh's Dewas district, police said on Monday.
The incident took place on Sunday in Borpadav village under Udainagar police station limits, some 110 km from the district headquarters, the official said, adding that nine people were arrested in the matter.
The accused also tore the woman's clothes and abused her, as per the FIR registered in connection with the incident.
Some videos surfaced on social media platforms wherein the woman was seen being slapped repeatedly by villagers, and later heckled and humiliated in front of the public, while she was carrying her husband on her shoulders.
In another clip, the woman and another man, identified as Hari Singh Bhilala, were seen with garlands of shoes around their necks and both being humiliated by locals gathered around them.
Based on a complaint filed by Bhilala, an FIR was later registered against 11 named people, including the woman's husband, and some unidentified persons under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Additional Superintendent of Police Suryakant Sharma said.
He said nine of the persons named in the FIR have been arrested, while other accused were being identified and will be nabbed soon.
According to the FIR, Bhilala knew the victim woman for the past six months and she reached his house on Saturday night out of mutual trust.
The woman told the complainant that she came to his house as her husband suspected her character and used to beat her up, the FIR said.
On Sunday, the woman's husband along with his associates came to the complainant's place, dragged him and the woman out, and thrashed and abused them, it said.
Later, the accused tore the woman's clothes and forced her to carry her husband on her shoulders, as per the FIR.
The woman and the complainant were forced to wear garlands of shoes, the FIR said, adding that police rescued them later.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath targeted the ruling BJP, citing incidents of atrocities against tribals in the state.
The state government is indulging in political gimmick in the name of the tribals, but the condition of the community has deteriorated in Madhya Pradesh, he claimed.
On Saturday, a tribal woman was set ablaze allegedly by three persons over a land dispute in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district, police earlier said.
She is battling for life in a hospital in the state capital Bhopal, they said, adding that five people were arrested in connection with that incident.
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PM must explain why his govt scrapped Backward Region Grant Fund: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): The Congress on Friday hit out at the BJP for "scrapping" the Backward Region Grant Fund in 2015 and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain why his government "callously" did away with the "forward-thinking" scheme of the UPA.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Uttar Pradesh.
"Why has the Modi Sarkar scrapped the Backward Regions Grant Fund? Why has the BJP neglected UP's mentha farmers? Why has CM Yogi repeatedly lied about reopening the Budhwal Sugar Mill?" Ramesh said.
Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details", the Congress leader said the Backward Region Grant Fund, aimed at uplifting the backward districts of India, was "callously scrapped" by the Modi government in 2015.
"This forward-thinking scheme was established by the UPA government in 2006 and by 2013, Uttar Pradesh's backward districts had received benefits worth Rs 4000 crore from it," he said.
Ramesh pointed out that in 2015, the Modi government discontinued separate budgetary allocations for this scheme, transferring it to states and slashing annual funding to the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) from Rs 1,006 crore to just Rs 60 crore.
"This came as a significant blow to districts like Fatehpur that received crucial development funds from the scheme. Can the outgoing PM explain why his government so callously scrapped the Backward Region Grant Fund?" Ramesh said in a post on X.
Pointing out that India is the world's largest producer and exporter of mentha oil and UP alone accounts for 90 per cent of India's total production, Ramesh claimed that the mentha oil industry is now reeling from convoluted tax classifications, high GST, and general government neglect.
"Instead of trying to support farmers and processors, the government is trying to extract maximum revenue from the industry. First, the government follows a dual policy for mentha - it is classified as an industrial product under GST, but it is classified as agricultural produce when it comes to the Mandi Tax," he said.
This enables double taxation - GST as an industrial product, Mandi Tax as an agricultural product, Ramesh said.
"Farmers already have to pay the 12% GST on mentha oil sales, and under the new Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM), RCM is levied on purchase. Mentha oil processors are forced to take on the tax liability when purchasing mentha oil from farmers and therefore take on dual tax liability," he said.
Finally, despite mentha being an entirely export-oriented product, the government provides no incentives to boost production, processing, or export, Ramesh claimed.
Why have the outgoing PM and the BJP neglected such an important Indian export, he asked.
"Even after repeated promises from PM Modi and CM Yogi, the Budhwal Sugar Mill remains inactive," he said.
"The PM first promised to revive all of UP's inactive sugar mills in 2014.Then in 2017, before assembly elections, Yogi Adityanath said that the mill would be revived if the BJP formed the government. The BJP won and formed the government but the mill remained inactive," Ramesh said.
Again, in 2022, CM Yogi Adityanath promised to restart the mill and even approved a supplementary budget of Rs 50 crore for the project, he said.
"The government also began to acquire land near the mill, raising hopes of its revival. However, months have now passed and no construction work has been initiated. After all of the BJP's promises, can the outgoing PM explain why the Budhwal Sugar Mill still remains inactive?" Ramesh said and asked the prime minister to break his "silence" on these issues.
