A video of the brutality of urinating on a Kol tribal youth from Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh has come to the fore. There is no place in a civilized society for such a heinous and obnoxious act with the youth of the tribal society.

It is alleged that Pravesh Shukla the person urinating is said to be associated of Sidhi BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) demands exemplary punishment for such heinous crime against tribal youth.

In a press statement, Bharat Ch. Narah, Acting Chairman, Media Department, APCC, said, “India is witnessing a worrying decline in the social status of the Dalits and tribal people under the BJP government, coupled with an economic decline. This makes the marginalised groups even more vulnerable. We all recall the Una episode, in which seven Dalit men were stripped and beaten sent a frightening message to the community. The socioeconomic scenario for Dalit and other marginalised groups has deteriorated, the government has done little to change things. What we are witnessing is a systematic marginalization of Dalits in the socioeconomic realm.”

According to NCRB, the atrocities/crime against Scheduled Tribes have increased by 6.4% in 2021 (8,802 cases) over 2020 (8,272 cases).  Even after the amendments came in force in year 2016, which generated a hope to the Dalit and Adivasis victims in accessing speedy justice, the implementation of the amended SCs and STs (PoA) Amended Act 2015 remains a challenge. 

APCC requested the Government of India to robustly, enforce and implement the new provisions of the amended Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (2015).

In the Assam context, APCC further stated that the Page Number 28 of the Assam Vision Document, 2016 of BJP mentioned ST status to the Six Communities of Assam in a strict time-bound manner. However, this promise is yet to be fulfilled. In view of the clearly visible anti-tribal policy of BJP government and lack of compassion for the tribal people, the double engine BJP government not declaring ST status to the six communities of Assam is not at all surprising.

Meanwhile, Police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of urinating on a tribal youth in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, even as the opposition Congress demanded a CBI probe into the incident and demolition of the accused’s property.