The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Madhya Pradesh government after a group of farmers returning from a protest against anti-farmer policies were allegedly forced to strip and then assaulted by police personnel.

The incident took place on October 3 at the Tikamgarh rural police station. Reportedly, the police station in-charge has claimed that the farmers were taken to the police station so that their names and addresses could be noted down, said a press release.

The commission observed that the contents of a media report, if true, are indicative of violation of human rights of the farmers. Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director general of police, Madhya Pradesh, seeking a report in the matter within four weeks.

As per news report, the protesters went to hand over a memorandum to the district collector, Tikamgarh after the rally but he refused to meet them. Thereafter, the protesters got annoyed and threw stones at police men and had a scuffle. The police men, reportedly, responded with a lathi-charge.

According to the media report, the state home minister has called for an enquiry report into the incident within three days, but also claimed that no one was beaten up at the police station. The chief minister has, reportedly, accused the Congress of provoking the protesters.