New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh government will take “bulldozer action” against three Muslim youth who made a man bark like a dog in Bhopal, while dragging him with a leash.
The BJP-led state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra condemned this behaviour “with a human being”, asking the police to take strict action against the perpetrators who can be seen torturing the man in a viral video.
“This is a serious matter. I have told the commissioner to take action within 24 hours,” Mishra said on Monday morning.
In the evening, he said the police had rounded up the accused within four to six hours. “There will be bulldozer action. We will crush this mentality and send a message across the state,” Mishra said later in the day.
VIDEO | "The accused were arrested within 4-5 hours, bulldozer action will be carried out. We will take such an action in Bhopal that it will send a message across the state," says MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra on viral video of a man being forced to act like a dog by some… pic.twitter.com/hUQCndI6r2
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 19, 2023
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhopal, Riyaz Iqbal said the video went viral since Sunday night. “We have registered an FIR on the basis of forced conversion and kidnapping. The victim has taken the names of six people. They all knew each other. Out of them, three have criminal records. All three have been detained, as well as the accuser,” he said of the month-old incident in Bhopal’s Tila Jamalpura area.
Iqbal said the police was also trying to find out if these men had accrued any properties by illegal means. “We will take strict action against that too,” he said, hinting at them being demolished.
In the 48-second video, a group of men can be seen screaming at the youth to behave like a dog. “Kutta ban aur bol Sahil bhai, sorry (Act like a dog and apologise to Sahil bhai),” the men tell him. He is also asked to bark.
The visibly scared man is seen pleading, as he says, “Sahib bhai mere baap hai, mere bade bhai hai. Meri ma unki ma, unki ma meri ma. Sahil bhai is my father, my elder brother. My mother is his mother, his is mine.”
The victim, identified as Vijay Ramchandani, detailed the incident in his police complaint and said the accused bullied him, also suggesting he convert to Islam, NDTV reported.
The police have arrested Sameer, Sajid and Faizan after filing a case against them. Ramchandani was quoted in the report as saying that another three men – Bilal, Mufid and Sahil Bachcha – soon arrived on the spot and started beating him up.
He said the accused also threatened his brother and mother over money.
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