Sidhi Peeing Incident: Did MP CM Shivraj Chouhan Wash Someone Else's Feet?

Madhya Pradesh Police and state government officials have categorically rubbished the claim made by MP Congress.

NEW DELHI: Amid intense politics over the Madhya Pradesh urination incident, the state unit of the Congress has now alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met the wrong person and washed someone else's feet, not the victim upon whom a person called Parvesh Shukla was seen urinating in a viral video. Calling it a “big conspiracy,” the Madhya Pradesh Congress claimed on its official Twitter handle that “CM Shivraj Singh washed someone else's feet, not the person who was urinated on. Madhya Pradesh will not forgive you.”

सीधी पेशाब कांड में बड़ा खुलासा,
— शिवराज ने किसी और के पांव धोने की नौटंकी की, असली पीड़ित लापता हैं क्या ?

शिवराज जी,
इतना बड़ा षड्यन्त्र 

मध्यप्रदेश आपको माफ नहीं करेगा। pic.twitter.com/JCvXlUJr7w

— MP Congress (@INCMP) July 9, 2023

However, Madhya Pradesh Police and state government officials have categorically rubbished this claim. Reacting to the tweet by MP Congress, Sidhi SP Dr Ravindra Verma termed it as 'misleading. "In the case of the viral video of the Sidhi urination case, there are some misleading claims that the victim was not Dashmat Rawat. Police investigation confirmed that the man was Dashmat Rawat," the SP said.

District Collector Saket Malviya also denied the claims and called them "misleading". He said that a police probe had confirmed that the person seen in the video was indeed Dashmat Rawat.

जिले के वायरल वीडियो मामले में फैलाई जा रही समस्त भ्रामक खबरों का मै पुलिस अधीक्षक सीधी खंडन करता हूँ। @SidhiCollector pic.twitter.com/fjRCeZsq5y

— SP_Sidhi_MP (@sp_sidhi) July 9, 2023

It may be noted that the Madhya Pradesh urination incident came to light after a video showing the accused Pravesh Shukla peeing on a tribal worker, Dashmat Rawat, went viral on social media last week. 

Amid huge public outcry over the highly condemnable incident, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister directed the state authorities to arrest and ensure the strictest punishment for the accused.

Acting on the chief minister's order, the state government arrested and booked the accused, Pravesh Shukla, under the stringent National Security Act (NSA). Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also apologised and washed the feet of Dashmat Rawat.

The local authorities later razed an illegal part of the house belonging to Shukla's father. Several lawyers opposed the slapping of charges under the NSA and the razing of Shukla's house.

On July 7, Dshmat Rawat urged the government to release Shukla, reasoning that the accused had realised his mistake. "My demand to the government is that a mistake has been committed (by the accused). And now Pravesh Shukla should be released. Whatever has happened in the past, he has realised his mistake," Rawat told reporters.

While the ruling BJP has claimed the incident wherein a tribal youth was peed upon by a man in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh dated back to 2019-20 when the Kamal Nath-led Congress government was in power, the Congress submitted a memorandum to MP Governor Mangubhai Patel demanding to protect the interests of tribals and alleged the number of crimes against the community is on the rise in the central state.

"The initial findings of the probe committee formed by BJP over the Sidhi incident point out that the urination incident dated back to 2019-20 when Kamal Nath was heading the Congress government in the state," MP BJP president VD Sharma told reporters. He said an administrative report in this regard will come out soon. "We will not allow the spreading of enmity in society through such tactics," Sharma added.

Nath, who heads the MP Congress unit, and tribal MLAs of his party met the governor at Raj Bhavan. "Madhya Pradesh is leading the country in the number of atrocities committed against tribals. We requested the governor to protect the interests of the tribal community," Nath said. Govind Singh, the Leader of the Opposition in the MP Assembly, said the Congress will raise the Sidhi incident and "atrocities against tribals" in the Assembly session beginning Tuesday.

The opposition Congress has also demanded a CBI probe into the urination incident. The BJP had denied Congress' claim that Shukla was associated with a BJP MLA.