MP High Court Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of Video Allegedly Showing OBC Youth Forced To Wash Person's Feet

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, on Tuesday, took suo motu cognizance of a video uploaded by YouTube News channels showing a young man from the OBC Community sitting in a temple and being compelled to wash the feet of a person and consume the said water. The said action of washing the feet and consuming the water was allegedly atonement for the victim, who had created an AI video meme of a person allegedly belonging to the Upper Caste with a garland of footwear after he was fined by the Panchayat for being drunk in an abstinent village.Expressing shock over the rising state of caste-related violence and discrimination in the State, the bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Pradeep Mittal held; "Each caste has become vociferous and ultra conscious of its caste identity and leaves no measure unturned to demonstrate his/her pride of belonging to a particular caste. This is giving rise to several instances of caste violence. The victims in most cases are the least literate and most impoverished economically". Further, the court directed; "before this evil symphony of caste acrimony and discrimination reaches its crescendo, the police and the administration of Damoh is directed to forthwith proceed against all those persons under the NSA (in addition to the FIR), who are visible in the video and whose identity can be ascertained, who were there in the temple surrounding the victim and compelling him to do the act". The incident took place in Gram Satariya, where Annu Pandey allegedly sold liquor in the village despite the Panchayat having imposed a self-prohibition. He was found drunk and, per the news reports, was fined by the Panchayat. An AI video meme of Annu wearing a garland of footwear was allegedly created by the victim. However, the Panchayat, in a gathering, decided that the victim must atone for this act of indiscretion. Therefore, the victim was called to the village temple and compelled by a large mob to wash the feet of Annu Pandey and consume that water. One person from the mob told the victim to say that he would serve the upper caste community. Pet the YouTube News channels, the victim later appeared in a video stating that certain interested parties were trying to make a mountain of a molehill and that the person whose feet he washed was his Guru for a long time. The bench noted that this part of the video 'prima facie' clearly reflected the eye movements of the victim, indicating that he was reading something placed in front of him. The court noted that the Damoh Police registered an FIR for obscene acts and songs in public places (Section 296) and for acts prejudicial to harmony maintained between different religious, racial, language, regional groups, cast or communities (196(1b)) of BNS. The court questioned how Section 296 would be applicable and observed that since the incident occurred in a temple, Section 196(2) would be applicable, which deals with offences committed at a place of religious worship. The court noted that, though no vocal threats were meted out to the victim, he was surrounded by several people and had no choice but to follow their directions. The court also noted that prima facie offence for criminal intimidation (Section 351) and for assault and use of criminal force (Section 133) were also made out. The court further noted instances of caste-based violence, including an incident where a person of the general category urinated on the head of a tribal person and remarked; "The repeated instances of caste-related violence and discriminative actions in the State of Madhya Pradesh is shocking. This is the same State, where a person of the general category urinated on the head of a tribal person and to placate whom, the then Chief Minister washed the feet of the victim. Caste identities are on the rise". The court also noted that every community 'frequently and shamelessly flaunts' its caste identity and has become vociferous and ultra-sensitive, resulting in the rise of several instances of caste-based violence. The court further emphasized the rise of caste-related issues, including the incident of a shoe being thrown at the CJI or the suicide of the Senior Additional DGP in Haryana. "If one is unfortunate to follow social media or reads the newspaper, the Hindu is conspicuous by his absence. Persons refer to themselves as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, each asserting their independent identity. At this stage, if things are unchecked, within a century and half, the people, who call themselves Hindus, will cease to have exist, fighting amongst themselves", the court further remarked.The court, while taking a serious note of the State's delay in taking proactive measures, noted "This Court would not usually have directed the police to proceed against these accused people under the National Security Act as that's a matter of executive discretion". Thus, the court cautioned it to take action 'urgently and immediately' as the situation may lead to violence...

MP High Court Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of Video Allegedly Showing OBC Youth Forced To Wash Person's Feet

Jayanti Pahwa

“The repeated instances of caste-related violence and discriminative actions in the State of Madhya Pradesh is shocking. This is the same State, where a person of the general category urinated on the head of a tribal person,” the court said.

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