DGP asked to submit report in three days after video circulated on social media

In a shocking incident in Madhya Pradesh, a group of farmers was allegedly stripped and beaten up by policemen at Tikamgarh Dehat Thana for participating in a protest march on Tuesday. The State government ordered an inquiry into the incident after a video and photographs of the farmers sitting in their underwear inside the police station were circulated on social media.

On Tuesday, a large number of farmers took part in Khet Bachao, Kisan Bachao agitation called by the Congress near the Tikamgarh District Collectorate.

During the protest, a group of Congress workers and farmers tried to enter the Collectorate to present a memorandum to Collector, Abhijit Agarwal.

Verbal duel

However, they were stopped at the entrance by the policemen and asked to wait, said Congress leader Yadvendra Singh, one of the organisers of the protest.

Some of the protesters got into a verbal duel with the policemen as a result of which the latter had to use lathis, teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowd, said a Collectorate official. Later, in the evening, when a group of protesters were returning to their village in two tractor trolleys, they were allegedly stopped and detained at the Tikamgarh Dehat police station.

The policemen allegedly forced the farmers to take off their clothes and sit in their underwear. “They were also beaten up,” alleged Mr. Singh.

State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. “The Director General of Police has been asked to institute an inquiry and submit a report within three days,” he said.