MP Brahmin body to move HC against demolition of pee accused's house

A Brahmin organisation on Friday opposed the demolition of a part of the house of the accused in the Sidhi urination incident, saying his act was deplorable but his family members can't be punished for his behaviour.

The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Samaj said it will move the high court against the demolition at the house belonging to his father.

On Tuesday, a video of a man, later identified as Sidhi resident Pravesh Shukla, showing him urinating on a tribal person in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district went viral on social media, sparking massive outrage.

The next day Shukla was arrested and booked under the stringent National Security Act and what officials said was an illegal portion of the house, where he lived, was demolished.

“I assure full help to the family of the accused and ask all the district presidents of the Samaj to help the Shukla family,” the organisation's state chief Pandit Pushpendra Mishra said in a communication to its district branches.

“Man like Pravesh Shukla is not acceptable in any caste and society. His act is highly deplorable. But is it lawful to punish others for the act of someone else,” he asked in a statement.

The Samaj's Sidhi district president Rakesh Dubey along with other office-bearers of his unit has handed over Rs 51,000 to the Shukla family on behalf of Mishra, he said.

Acquaintances of the Shukla family said structures spared over 400 square feet, including the porch, of the house were demolished by the authorities claiming it was illegal.

Shukla's parents and other family members live in the house.

Mishra told PTI over the phone that they will move the MP High Court in Jabalpur against the demolition at the Shukla family house.

The urination episode has triggered a political controversy in Madhya Pradesh, where Assembly polls are due by the year-end, with the Congress alleging that the accused was connected to the local BJP legislator and the saffron party denying its connection with the accused in any way.

Amid outrage and government action, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday washed the feet of the victim, Dashmat Rawat, at the CM's residence in Bhopal and also apologised to him over the humiliating incident.

The Opposition described Chouhan's act of washing the victim's feet as mere drama.