HYDERABAD: A former BJP leader who threatened and abused two Dalit men and made them to enter in a muddy water in Nizamabad district of Telangana was arrested on Monday.
Absconding for nearly a month, Medigam Jaya Bharath Reddy alias Bharath Reddy, a local BJP leader of Abhangapatnam village in Navipet block, was picked up from Hyderabad and was arrested and presented produced before the court on Monday.
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The video of the purported incident, which took place at Abhangapatnam village in Navipet mandal of the district in September, has gone viral on social media and being highlighted by television channels.
The video shows a bearded Reddy, who has a criminal track record hurling casteist slurs holding a stick and threateningly asking the two men, who are folding their hands (apparently requesting him to spare them), to enter the pond as a “punishment”. The man is heard using filthy language against the duo.
The video also shows the two men get into water and take dips even as Reddy continues to hurl abuses against them.
#Nizamabad #BJP local leader canes, threatens & punishes 2 Dalit men for questioning him about illegal sand mining. Leader's men recorded incident on cam which has now gone viral. #Telangana @asadowaisi @realkeerthi @divyaspandana pic.twitter.com/2KvcrE8jIQ
— Paul Oommen (@Paul_Oommen) November 12, 2017
After the video went viral, a case aunder IPC section 506 (criminal intimidation) and under relevant sections of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against Bharat Reddy at the Navipet police station on November 12.
Earlier, referring to the incident, Telangana BJP said it strongly condemns “misrepresentation” by sections of the media on the viral video.
“The individual exhibiting barbaric and unacceptable behaviour in Nizamabad on Dalits is not a BJP leader, nor does he hold any position in the party at any level,” the party said in a statement.
“BJP Telangana will consider legal options against those, who are indulging in blatant misrepresentation,” it added.