Four Muslim youths molested and beat up a minor girl on Sunday in Daluda of District Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, following which angry Hindu activists surrounded the local police station that witnessed ruckus till night. Under pressure, the police detained four youths but did not reveal their names.

On Sunday evening, the victim was on her way to a tutorial centre near her home in Daluda when the suspects coaxed the minor and took her to a deserted part of the town. Sensing their intentions, the girl raised an alarm but was brutally beaten up. Somehow, she grabbed her phone and called her family for help.

Receiving the information, activists of Hindu organisations rushed to the spot, but before that, the perpetrators fled the spot. The activists took the girl to the local police station.

Soon, members of the Hindu community gathered outside the Daluda police station and surrounded it, demanding the arrest of all suspects.

The police in Mandsaur were found lax in discharging their responsibility, as ASP Gautam Solanki reached the spot no sooner than 8:30 PM.

This angered the crowd even more, as they began sloganeering, even as the police wondered for hours about a proper course of action.

In despair, the crowd organised bhajans outside the police station, which drew a larger crowd.

On police inquiry, the suspects were found to be living in illegal settlements. The district administration ordered razing the illegal tenements.

A former MLA of the area said on X that the district and police administration took action against the illegal encroachment and illegal activities of the suspects after receiving a formal complaint of the incident of “misbehaviour and assault” with a minor girl in Daloda of the Mandsaur assembly constituency.