PM to declare country ODF on Oct 2
SHIVPURI: Two Dalit children, who did not have a toilet at home, were allegedly beaten to death by two upper caste men for defecating near a village panchayat building in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district on Wednesday, police said.
The incident took place around 6.30 am at Bhavkedhi, 25 km from the district headquarters. The village, according to locals, had been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF) in 2018.
The two alleged assailants, Hakam Yadav and his brother Rameshwar Yadav, were arrested soon after the incident, police said.
Manoj Balmiki, a labourer whose youngest sister Roshani (12) and his only son Avinash (10) became victims of the horrific crime, alleged that the family faced discrimination in the village due to their caste.
“We don’t have a toilet at home. The children went out to defecate in the morning. Rameshwar and Hakam, who were standing near their hand pump, shouted at them for defecating on the road and rained blows of lathis on their heads while the children were relieving themselves, killing them in seconds,” Balmiki told reporters. The incident comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled declaration of the country open defecation-free on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2.
Modi will make the declaration in the presence of over 20,000 village heads at a function at the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad during his visit to Gujarat, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Wednesday.
Dignitaries from across the world are also expected to attend the mega event to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, said Patel.
“October 2 will be celebrated as Swachh Bharat Diwas across the country. Our Prime Minister would visit Gujarat on that day and declare the entire country open defecation-free,” he said. (PTI)