Uttarakhand Police book BJP MLA for beating up Dalit women, making casteist slur

Rudrapur: An FIR was filed against a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Uttarakhand for allegedly beating up Dalit women and making casteist remarks here, the police said Sunday. A video of the incident, which purportedly shows Rudrapur MLA Rajkumar Thukral beating up the women on Friday, went viral on social media. Thukral was booked under sections 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Two other BJP leaders’ name are also mentioned in the FIR, a police official said. The BJP leader, however, has termed the allegations baseless. “It is a conspiracy to malign my image by making false allegations,” he said. “The case was registered after a person named Ram Kishore filed a complaint on behalf of the victims,” Sadanand Date, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Udham Singh Nagar, told PTI. Investigations are on in this case, the SSP said. According to reports, a panchayat meeting was held at the MLA’s house on Friday morning over a couple’s relationship. Both the girl and boy’s family members were present. After the family members got into a scuffle, Thukral allegedly lost his cool and hit some of the women.