A video went viral on social media in which a man in a drunken state was abusing and urinating on a tribal laborer sitting in the Kubari market of Sidhi district, Dashmat Rawat, when he demanded for delayed payment of his wage.
This incident took place on 26th June, but came to light on Tuesday. The man in that video claimed to be Pravesh Shukla, a Bharatiya Janata Party worker. This video triggered the people of Sidhi district of Maharashtra and the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the arrest of the accused under strict NSA (National Security Act).
Chouhan made a tweet that, “He came across a video with respect to Sidhi district and instructed the administration to arrest the accused and take strict action against him”.
This triggered the political face-off in the state poll-bound with the opposition Congress claiming that the offender is a co-worker of BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla. The state Madhya Pradesh is already in first place when it comes to tribal atrocities and it is a great disappointment, a strict punishment was demanded by the Chief Minister to the culprit.
Several news cuttings, photos and pamphlets were released regarding Pravesh Shukla in connection with the BJP MLA. After this news, Kedarnath Shukla said that the opposition Congress party in Madhya Pradesh has declared Pravesh as the associate of BJP MLA from Sidhi.When questions were posed over the posters and newspaper articles which portrayed Pravesh Shukla as his representative, the BJP leader Kedarnath Shukla said, ” Pravesh Shukla seems to misuse his name to create a separate fanbase in the state”.
However, Kedarnath Shukla dismissed the charge and said that he just knew him, Pravesh was never the BJP representative.
After confirming about the incident, Ravindra Verma, the Superintendent of police in Sidhi filed an FIR against Shukla under section 294 for using obscene language, section 504 for Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and few other sections pertaining to SC/ST Act.
Speaking to Newsclick reporter Pawan Singh, the police in-charge of Behri police station said, “FIR has been registered under the relevant section of the IPC against the accused Pravesh Shukla. Strict actions have been taken against the culprit after the video came to light.”
Abbas Hafeez , the Congress spokesperson shared a video on Twitter with a caption: “ The BJP leader, who talks hypocritically about the tribal interest is now pissing on a poor tribal person and this is a shameful act”.
