Bhopal: The incident of farmers being stripped naked and beaten up at a police station at Tikamgarh has raised a political storm. The farmers were arrested during a demonstration staged by the Congress on Tuesday. In response to a call of the Congress, Tikamgarh observed a complete bandh on Wednesday. The chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed the DGP to probe the incident, which comes within less than six months of the death of five farmers in police firing at Mandsaur.
Blaming the Congress for the incident, the chief minister said that the party deliberately created conditions that led to pelting of stones and lathi-charge. He said that staging protests “for no reason” was improper.
Home minister Bhupendra Singh, while interacting with journalists, said that Congressmen were arrested after the demonstration. He said that the DGP has been asked to probe within three days whether they had themselves taken off their clothes or were asked to do so. The DGP has asked the DIG, Chhattarpur to investigate.
Congressmen staged a protest march in the Capital on Wednesday to express their anguish over the incident. MPs Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia and leader of opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh have sought the chief minister’s resignation. Singh said that the barbaric action of the police against peaceful demonstrators had ripped the mask off the government’s real face. He said that whenever the farmers take to the streets to protest injustice, the government machinery resorts to violence against them.
