The National Commission for Schedule Castes (NCSC) on Friday took strong exception to an incident in which 12-year-old Dalit teenager being stripped naked and then thrashed in Sri Muktsar Sahib district’s Malout area, and has issued a notice to Punjab government asking for an action taken report by May 26.
NCSC chairman, Vijay Sampla, has asked the Divisional Commissioner (Ferozepur), Deputy Commissioner (Sri Muktsar Sahib), Inspector General of Police (Faridkot Range), and the Senior Superintendent of Police (district Sri Muktsar Sahib), to investigate the matter and to submit the report within seven days, through post or email, based on the facts and information on the action taken on the allegation/matter.
A video of the incident had gone viral on May 19, in which a man is seen thrashing a boy. Later, a Dalit woman from Harjinder Nagar in Malout town of Sri Muktsar Sahib had approached NCSC with a complaint that her son had been beaten up and his video uploaded on social media.
“My husband had left me and our son seven years ago. After that, I was in a relationship with one Arshdeep Singh, a resident of Sarawan Bodla village. Arshdeep, however, later got married to someone else. He, however, kept visiting our house. When I tried to end the relationship, he started harassing me and my son. One day, he visited my house, stripped my 12-year-old son naked and thrashed him brutally. He also made a video of the incident that was later uploaded on the Internet,” the woman said in her complaint.
She further said that officers of Malout police station didn’t help her even when the accused threatened her with dire consequences inside the very police station.
Sampla, in his notice, cautioned the officers that if action taken report is not received within the stipulated time, then THW Commission might exercise powers of the civil court conferred on it under Article 338 of the Constitution of India and issue a summon for personal appearance.