Two Dalit men were thrashed, and their house was set on fire by a group of 15 men in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district, for objecting to withdraw a two-year-old case, police said.

The incident took place on November 21, when the group reportedly barged into the home of Sandeep Dohre, a resident of Chirgai village for refusing to withdraw a 2018 case against the accused, Pavan Yadav.

The complainant Santram Dohra, Sandeep’s brother, had lodged a complaint against Yadav over the difference in wage payment. The police had charged the accused under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The police have now constituted three teams to investigate the matter.

Since then, Yadav’s family had been pressurising Santram to withdraw the case, but he refused. Enraged, Yadav, along with a group of 13-14 men on motorbikes, barged into Dohre’s house on Saturday and started beating up the brothers with rifle butts and axes, and set their home on fire. They also reportedly fired gunshots in the air, hearing which the villagers came out and torched three of their five bikes, reported NDTV.

The accused fled with the remaining bikes. Later, the villagers called the police, and rushed the injured men to the nearby hospital, from where they were referred to the district hospital, given the severe injuries.

Pavan Yadav, Kallu Yadav, their four relatives and a neighbour have been named in the case.

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