An elderly Dalit couple and their daughter-in-law were tied to a tree after some men destroyed their soya bean crop on Wednesday evening.
The incident took place in Bijania village which falls under the Mohan Barodia Police Station in Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur district.
The victim Dalit family has approached the police, but no case has been registered so far.
According to the family, 80-year-old Sidhnath, his 75-year-old wife Reshambai, and 45-year-old daughter-in-law Leela Bai went to their plot on hearing that someone had employed a tractor to destroy their soya bean crop. The accused first thrashed the three of them and then tied their hands and feet before tying them to a tree. The three were noticed by their minor grandson who freed them and brought them home.
Sidhnath in his complaint to the police said that he had got a 2.5 bigha plot of land from the government to make a living. He had taken a loan from a person named Laxmichand of the same village. When he was unable to repay the same, he leased out the land to him for two years.
Sidhnath has also alleged that the moneylender had made a fake sale deed and sold his land to Dalchand who now claimed to be the owner of the land.
The police on Thursday said that they received a complaint and the same was being investigated.
“They have a long-standing dispute, the complainants are complaining that they own the 2.5 bighas of land and that someone else has taken possession of it. We have taken their complaint and the matter is being investigated,” Ramesh Chandra Awasya, SHO Mohan Bardia Police Station said.
District superintendent of police Pankaj Srivastava said that he was not aware of the matter when asked why no action had been taken against the moneylenders who had tried to usurp land allocated by the government to a Dalit family.