Congress MLA Shakuntala Khatik has been booked on the charge of inciting people to set ablaze a police station during violent protests by farmers in Madhya Pradesh.
A video, which recently went viral, purportedly showed Ms. Khatik indulging in the act.
The video was shot on June 8, 2017 when Ms. Khatik, who represents the Karera Assembly segment in Shivpuri district, was staging a protest at the Karera Police Station against the killing of farmers in police firing Mandsaur.
Karera’s Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anurag Sujania said an FIR was registered against Ms. Khatik, block Congress president Venus Goyal and others early Tuesday.
They were booked under IPC sections pertaining to rioting, unlawful assembly, punishment for obscene acts or words in public and assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty, he said.
During the June 8 protest, an effigy of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was burnt. The police poured water on it to douse the flames, in which the woman legislator got partially drenched.
This irked Ms. Khatik, who later sat on a protest at the police station along with her supporters and the video was shot during the sit-in. The video showed the MLA purportedly asking her supporters to set the police station on fire.
The farmers’ protest in Madhya Pradesh that began on June 1, 2017 took a violent turn on June 6 when five farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur district.
Subsequently, the farmers’ protests witnessed a bandh and arson as the agitation spread to other western Madhya Pradesh districts, including Neemuch, Dhar, Ratlam and Jhabua.
Mr. Chouhan launched a fast in Bhopal on Saturday with an appeal for peace and met farmers' leaders.
However, he ended his fast on Sunday, saying peace has returned to the State. Before ending the fast, he assured people that those involved in the deaths of farmers in Mandsaur would be punished severely.
