Following a writ petition filed on Friday by the brother of a tribal boy who was allegedly burnt alive in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar in August by upper caste men, the MP High Court on Tuesday took cognizance of the plea and directed the police to provide protection to the victim's family and the witnesses in the case, reported The Times of India.
The HC also summoned the superintendent of police (SP), Dhar, and station head officer (SHO) of Manawar police station, states the report.
The alleged murder of 16-year-old Madiya, a tribal boy hailing from the Acchhoda village in the district, took place on August 15. Upper caste men from the village allegedly beat Madiya up, burnt him alive and then hung his body from a tree.
The reason is said to be that Madiya was listening to loud music on his mobile phone while cycling past a group of upper caste boys and refused to lower the volume.
However, word of the incident did not get out and the police allegedly did not file a complaint despite requests from the victim's family.
Madiya's body was found by his grandmother in the middle of the night and though the following day the body was taken for an autopsy, no FIR was filed, states the report.
The family with the help of Jagrut Dalit Aadivasi Sangathan (JADS) filed a petition in court last week. Madhuri of JADS told the TOI, "When police refused to book the accused, tribal youths launched protests from August 18. After two weeks of protests, police lodged FIR against six people on August 30 for abetment of suicide, not murder".