Bhopal/Mandideep, Nov 22 : In a horrifying display of cruelty, a disabled man was publicly urinated on by two of his relatives in the bustling market area of Mandideep, an industrial hub 23 km from Bhopal.

The viral video of the incident, captured near a petrol pump, shows the victim lying helplessly on the ground as the assailant callously relieves themselves on his face, laughing while bystanders record the depravity. This grotesque act, which occurred in broad daylight, has exposed deep fissures in Madhya Pradesh's law and order, drawing sharp condemnation from opposition leaders and human rights advocates.

A video of the incident went viral. Eyewitnesses described the scene as "heart-wrenching," with the victim, identified as a local Divyang (differently abled person) in his 40s, sprawled on the roadside after collapsing from exhaustion.

The footage, which surfaced on social media platforms late Friday evening, quickly amassed thousands of views, prompting swift police action.

Raisen Superintendent of Police (SP) Aditya Kumar confirmed the arrest of the primary accused, a resident of nearby Obedullaganj, under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for assault, outraging modesty, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, given the victim's marginalised status.

A second individual, believed to be the videographer, remains at large, with police forming teams to apprehend him.

The incident traces back to a mundane errand gone wrong.

The victim and his relatives had travelled to Mandideep's grain market to sell paddy harvested from their small farm in Raisen's rural belt. After a long day under the November sun, they stopped at a roadside dhaba for respite. Tension escalated when an argument over a minor debtâ??allegedly Rs 500 owed for liquorâ??turned violent.

Witnesses claim the accused, inebriated and enraged, shoved the disabled man to the ground during the scuffle. What followed was an act of unspeakable humiliation; the assailant unzipped and urinated directly on the victim's face, mocking his immobility.

"He was like a rag doll, unable to fight back," said a vendor who alerted authorities. The video, shared by an onlooker hoping to "expose the monster," instead amplified the trauma, with netizens labelling it "a stain on humanity."

This is not an isolated outrage in Madhya Pradesh, a state plagued by a notorious history of such dehumanising assaults.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data underscores the crisis: In 2024, MP topped the charts for atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, reporting over 5,200 cases, including 127 incidents of forced ingestion or exposure to human wasteâ??a 15 per cent spike from 2023.

High-profile cases, like the 2023 Sidhi urination on a tribal labourer that led to the invocation of the National Security Act (NSA), or the August 2024 Narsinghpur Dalit man forced to drink urine, paint a grim picture of systemic failure.

Congress, sensing a chink in the ruling BJP's armour, unleashed a blistering attack. State unit president Jitu Patwari, addressing a press conference in Bhopal, thundered, "There is no law, no home minister in Madhya Pradesh! This repeated urination on humans is a Madhya Pradesh specialityâ??NCRB data is clear evidence of it."

The BJP, on the defensive, accused Congress of politicising tragedy. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, posting on X, affirmed, "Zero tolerance for such barbarism. The guilty will rot in jail; we've sanctioned Rs 2 lakh immediate relief for the victim and ordered a fast-track probe."

/IANS