The deceased has been identified as Rajendra Singh Rajput of Gajar-Mundra village. Kotwali police have registe... Read More

BHOPAL: A 40-year-old man committed suicide in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh allegedly after he was threatened with an FIR under provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The deceased has been identified as Rajendra Singh Rajput of Gajar-Mundra village. Kotwali police have registered a case in this regard.

Sources say Rajput had a spat with Sundar Lal Ahirwar over some petty issue on Friday night after which the latter had threatened him of implicating in SC/ST Act .

His brother Fatehsingh Rajput told local media that Ahirwar had said that he would file a case under the said Act. "My brother got scared after that and hanged himself in the night," he added. He is survived by his wife and four children including two daughters.

This incident comes exactly a month after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that no person in the state will be arrested under the SC/ST Act without an investigation.

Upper caste groups had called a nationwide shutdown on September 6 against the Centre's decision to restore the provision that allowed for arrest of the accused without an investigation and the shutdown call was well-received in MP.

Members of Samanya Pichhda Alpsankhyak Adhikari Avam Karamchari Sangh (SAPAKS), the body representing upper castes, went to Rajput's house and registered strong protest against the SC/ST Act.

"Neither we have registered any case against Rajput nor Ahirwar had lodged any complaint against him. In fact, he had given us in writing that it was a petty dispute within the village and he don't want to register any case. Some people are spreading misleading reports," said Bhopal Range IG Jaideep Prasad.

