Mandsaur protests: SC stays arrest of woman Congress MLA

A local court in Madhya Pradesh had issued an arrest warrant against Shakuntala Khatik for allegedly inciting protesters to burn down a local police station during the farmers' agitation in Madhya Pra

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the arrest of Congress MLA Shakuntala Khatik accused of inciting violence in Mandsaur during farmer agitation in which five farmers were killed in police firing.

The apex court issued a notice to Madhya Pradesh Government and the state police.

A local court in Madhya Pradesh had issued an arrest warrant against Shakuntala Khatik for allegedly inciting protesters to burn down a local police station during the farmers agitation in Madhya Pradesh.

Amid violent protests by farmers in Madhya Pradesh, a video surfaced purportedly showed Khatik inciting people to set a police station ablaze. The video had gone viral on social media and was shared on Twitter by BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

The video was shot when she was staging a protest at Karera police station in Shivpuri district against the killing of farmers in Mandsaur.

She was leading a protest march, during which an effigy of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was burnt. The police poured water on the effigy in a bid douse the flames, in which the woman legislator got partially drenched.

This irked 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 shows the MLA purportedly asking her supporters to set the police station on fire.

(With agency inputs)