Objecting to civic body officials on the ground that they were possibly outraging the modesty of women by taking pictures of open defecation has cost a man his life in Rajasthan. Zafar Hussain alias Zafar Khan, aged 44, was beaten to death by civic body officials and their chief in Pratapgarh who were apparently working as part of the Swachh Bharat mission
Swachh Bharat is a flagship initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to move towards a cleaner India. One aim of it is to end open defecation. The civic body officials, led by the municipal commissioner, were reportedly engaged in one such survey when the aforementioned incident happened on Friday, June 16.
Pratapgarh Station House Officer Mangi Lal Bishnoi has been quoted by the Indian Express as saying: "We have lodged an FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) against Nagar Parishad [municipal body] Commissioner Ashok Jain and municipal employees Kamal Harijan, Ritesh Harijan and Manish Harijan following a complaint by the family of Zafar Hussain, 44, who died on Friday morning after an alleged assault by these government employees."
The complaint filed by Hussain's brother Nur Mohammad, who was quoted in it as saying: "Some women were defecating in open today [Friday] at around 6-6:30 am near our Kuttchi Basti Mehtab Shah colony, when the Nagar Parishad commissioner's car reached the spot, along with Kamal, Ritesh and Manish and others. The men started taking photographs of the women."
It adds: "My brother Zafar asked them not to click photographs but the men started assaulting him with lathis [long and thick wooden sticks], and punched and kicked him. He fell and died on the spot. All the people present at the spot, including the women, can identify the men who killed my brother."
The municipal commissioner has denied the allegations and told the Indian Express: "As part of the government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, we go around in the mornings to prevent people from defecating in the open and spread awareness. Today, we parked our car and were informing people about the ills of open defecation when a man rushed towards us, and started hitting and abusing our employees."
He added: "He went home and we continued with our campaign. However, when we went to the station to lodge a complaint, we came to know of his death. We did not click any objectionable photographs nor did we assault him. He was fine when he left."
Jain has also lodged a counter-complaint against Hussain under IPC Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty).
