A Maharashtra Congress delegation today visited Wakadi village in Jalgaon district where two boys from a backward community were allegedly beaten up and paraded naked for swimming in a well that belonged to a person of a different caste.
The police have already arrested two men, identified as Ishwar Joshi - the well owner and his farm worker Prahlad Lohar, in connection with the incident.
Congress MLA Abdul Sattar, who led the delegation, told PTI that the families of these two boys were extremely poor and were living in fear.
"Local goons were pressuring them to withdraw their police complaint and threatening them that they would not be allowed to live in the village if they didn't do so," Sattar said.
He alleged that these goons had also promised the families that their houses would be reconstructed if they withdrew their police complaints.
Accusing the police of carrying out a panchnama of the wrong well, Sattar said, "The boys had bathed in a different well. But the panchanama was done of a different well. We informed the police today and the mistake was corrected."
Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan tweeted that the party's delegation had visited the village to support the two boys and their families.
He added that the Congress stood committed to protecting and ensuring social justice.
Meanwhile, state Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan, who is an MLA from Jamner of which Wakadi is part, today visited the village.
"Police have registered a case and the accused have been arrested. There is no tension here," he told reporters.
The incident came to light when a video of the alleged assault and stripping of the boys went viral on social media on June 10.
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