Dalits Media watch
News Updates 15.06.14
Death of Dalit: relatives refuse to take body at Watrap - The Times Of India
Man sentenced to death for rape and murder of minor Dalit girl - DNA
PT to organise demonstation to condemn rape incident - Zee News
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann Says Give Common Land To Dalits At Low Rates - Link
Fear palpable in Bahwalapur village - The Times Of India
Four rapes rock MP; two minors raped in Sidhi, Betul - The Times Of India
Bhardwaj wants religious leaders to lead from the front on temple entry - The Times Of India
Govt to fix accountability for dalit funds - The Times Of India
Caste out of the village - The Times Of India
The Times Of India
Death of Dalit: relatives refuse to take body at Watrap
S. Sundar
Parents of R. Balamurugan, who was done to death allegedly by the police, refused to take the body home after post-mortem at Watrap since their demand for booking four police personnel under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was not met.
After failure of parleys with police and revenue officials, relatives of the deceased and human rights activists left the Government Hospital at Watrap after 5 p.m. in protest.
Family members had earlier agreed to the post-mortem after a magisterial enquiry, instead of an RDO probe, was ordered into Thursday's murder of Balamurugan. The police also met the demand for conducting post-mortem by more than two teams of doctors.
The process was also videographed. Judicial magistrate Padmavathi also began the enquiry at the GH.
Earlier, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Muralidharan, told the protestors that it was not possible for him to alter the First Information Report to include the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the names of four accused based on a fresh complaint lodged by Ramachandran, father of the deceased. “Only the judicial magistrate can do it,” he said.
However, representatives of People's Watch and functionaries of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi argued that the magistrate had told them that alteration of FIR was not her job, but only of the police.
Though the post-mortem was over by 2.30 p.m. the agitators refused to take the body home insisting on alteration of the FIR.
Case against police
The police had filed a murder case against some unnamed police personnel for the death. However, Mr. Ramachandran, a ruling party functionary, gave a fresh complaint naming four police personnel for “beating his son to death’’.
S. Palaniammal, State coordinator of People's Watch, told The Hindu that it was not clear why the police personnel from Koomapatti brutally beat up Balamurugan, when his father had gone to the station with a complaint of local people assaulting him and his supporters.
The police have registered two cases of attempt to murder against unnamed persons of Koomapatti for assaulting police personnel.
Five police personnel — Sub-Inspector of Police, Raja, Special SIs Mohankumar and Panjupandi and constables Marudhupandi and Ravikumar — were admitted to hospitals with injuries, the police said.
DNA
Man sentenced to death for rape and murder of minor Dalit girl
Saturday, 14 June 2014 - 4:36pm IST | Agency: PTI
A man has been sentenced to death for raping a seven-year-old dalit girl and bludgeoning her to death with a brick by a local court here.
Special judge (SC/ST Act) Shanti Prakash Arvind held Bhanu Yadav guilty yesterday and described his actions as inhuman and gruesome. The judge said that the crime falls in the rarest of the rare category and awarded capital punishment to the convict.
According to special public prosecutor Rajendra Prasad, the seven-year-old victim was taken to an abandoned house in Dewa area on the night of June 18, 2012 by her neighbour Bhanu where he raped her and later battered her to death with a brick.
On the complaint of the victim's father, an FIR was lodged and Bhanu was arrested. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict.
Zee News
PT to organise demonstation to condemn rape incident
Last Updated: Saturday, June 14, 2014, 15:05
Coimbatore: Puthiya Tamizhakam would organise a demonstation in Chennai onJune 16 to condemn the shocking incident of abduction and rape of two minor girls from a hostel in Pollachi recently.
Talking to reporters here, party founder-president Dr K Krishnasamy alleged that attacks on Dalits, downtrodden and minorities were increasing in Tamil Nadu, particularly after Lok Sabha polls.
The girls, aged 10 and 11 and inmates of a hostel run by a church in Pollachi were raped by two persons who approached them in the wee hours on Thursday under the pretext of asking for water.
Rape of a Dalit girl in a village in Tirunelvel on May 18, attacks on three Dalit youths in Sankerkoil and 10 Dalit youths in Thoothukudi recently only showed that atrocities against minorities have been on an increase, he said.
Talking to reporters here, party founder-president Dr K Krishnasamy alleged that attacks on Dalits, downtrodden and minorities were increasing in Tamil Nadu, particularly after Lok Sabha polls.
The girls, aged 10 and 11 and inmates of a hostel run by a church in Pollachi were raped by two persons who approached them in the wee hours on Thursday under the pretext of asking for water.
Rape of a Dalit girl in a village in Tirunelvel on May 18, attacks on three Dalit youths in Sankerkoil and 10 Dalit youths in Thoothukudi recently only showed that atrocities against minorities have been on an increase, he said.
Krishnasamy urged the Govenrment to take note of the law and order situation in the state, particularly after Lok Sabha polls, and take stringent action against the culprits on warfooting.
He also asked the Centre to monitor the functioning of hostels across the state and strictly punish those who were flouting rules. PTI
He also asked the Centre to monitor the functioning of hostels across the state and strictly punish those who were flouting rules. PTI
Link
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann Says Give Common Land To Dalits At Low Rates
SANGRUR – Aam Aadmi Party MP from Sangrur Bhagwant Mann today appealed to the Punjab Government to give agricultural panchayat land (reserved for Scheduled Castes) to Dalits on contract for cultivation at low rates.
Mann stated this while supporting Dalits from Baopur and Namol villages who have been demanding panchayat land for cultivation on contract at low rates.
In a press note, Mann said instead of becoming a mute spectator, the district administration should find a solution to solve the problems of the SC community.
Mann said one-third of the agricultural panchayat land in villages had been earmarked for the SCs to improve their living standard, but the state government had been treating the same as a source of revenue.
He said after the Parliament session, he would visit villages in the district to thank the voters. He said he would chalk out a plan to provide relief to those who had been “victimised” by the state government.
The Times Of India
Fear palpable in Bahwalapur village
Faiz Rahman Siddiqui,TNN | Jun 14, 2014, 11.20 AM IST
KANPUR: An eerie calm prevails in Bahwalapur village of Kanpur Dehat. With male members on the run, women of Dalit households live in constant fear of attack by Yadav community in the village. Their travail began on the June 2 2014, when their houses were raged and set on fire. A dozen men, armed with chopper, pistols and 'lathis' even tried to rape women-folks, including minor girls.
On Friday, the victims met senior police officials and narrated their ordeal. They also lodged a complaint at the ASP's office demanding stringent action against the culprits. Later, ASP Sarwanand Yadav said that a CO rank officer would probe the incident. "We are in touch with the Dalits who have fled the village. We will provide enough security so that they can return home," he said, adding that those involved in attacking the dalits would be booked and sent to jail.
Manoj Kumar, one of the victims who had been on the run since the incident, said a group of men in connivance with the local police brought a JCB machine and tractors and demolished their houses allegedly in a bid to grab the land they had inherited from their ancestors. "The group convened a meeting and marched towards the village at night. They torched the houses and within a short span, houses of Manoj Kumar, Bhajan Lal and Hari Krishna Baba were set ablaze. We did not get time to save our belongings. We started running towards jungles to save our lives," said Meena Devi, daughter of Bhajan Lal.
As per the familiesA, on June 2, Bhajan Lal, Hari Krishna Baba, Manoj Kumar and others were threatened with dire consequences allegedly by Gajendra Yadav, Virendra Yadav, Sunil Yadav, Malkhan Singh Yadav and several others. "The accused arrived and untied our cattles and grabbed the plots. When the trio offered resistance, nearly a dozen members of the community turned violent. Armed with chopper, pistols and `lathis', they forcibly barged into our house and tried to rape the women-folks including minor girls, the same day at around 7 pm," said one of the victim and added, "When the women tried to resist, the assailants attacked them and stripped them in full public view. Later, the attackers ransacked and set on fire homes of Bhajan Lal, Hari Krishna Baba and Manoj Kumar and left the spot but not before issuing murder threats to them and other families."
Later, the male members fled and only women with their children, who too had fled, returned on Friday. But they were devastated to find their houses reduced to ashes.
The Times Of India
Four rapes rock MP; two minors raped in Sidhi, Betul
TNN | Jun 15, 2014, 08.50 AM IST
BHOPAL: Home minister Babulal Gaur's recent statement saying rapes cannot be stopped seems to be coming true in Madhya Pradesh as four incidents of rapes were reported from across the state on Saturday. Two cases were about minor girls aged 9 and 11 being raped.
Even as the focus on rapes and murders are on Uttar Pradesh, government and administration in MP too appear unable to prevent such incidents.
In the first incident, an 11-year-old girl was gang-raped by three minors at Fulwari village in Sidhi district on June 12. Survivour informed her parents on Friday and subsequently a complaint was filed. All three accused aged between 11 and 14 have been arrested and sent to juvenile home.
Police officials told TOI, survivour was grazing cattle when accused trio apprehended her. They took her to a desolate spot and took turns to rape her and fled. Following the complaint, medical tests of the girl were conducted and accused were arrested, police said.
The second incident is about a 9-year-old girl being raped by a 32-year-old man at Kamath village in Betul district on Saturday. The accused was caught by locals who later handed him over to police. Accused Bhojraj, 32, a resident of Patel ward of Multai town raped the minor while she was alone at home.
"Bhojraj, a carpenter was looking for job in survivour's neighbourhood and finding the girl alone at home her mother left for some work, accused took advantage of the situation and raped the minor," Betul SP Sudhir V Laad told TOI.
On her return, survivour's mother found the accused in a compromising position and raised an alarm. "Hearing her screams, locals rushed to the spot and caught Bhojraj. He was then handed over to police," said Laad. Accused has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant Sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, said Laad.
In the third incident a 21-year-old woman had complained that she has been sexually exploited by her father since 2006 in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. A case was filed on Saturday by the survivour who was accompanied by her aunt at Amjhera police station of Dhar in the evening.
Amjhera police station in charge Anita Derwal told TOI, complainant has alleged that her father was raping her since 2006. She became pregnant in April 2014 and her father got her pregnancy medically terminated. "We've registered a case under Sections 376 (rape), 313 (causing miscarriage without consent) and 315 (act done to prevent child being born alive) of IPC. A search has been launched to nab the girl's rape 55-year-old father, who is on the run," Derwal added.
The complainant alleged that her mother died in 2000, while grandmother passed away in 2003, leaving her and two younger brothers to be looked after by their father, a mason. Since 2006, he started raping her and threatened to kill her if she made the matter public.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old woman was sexually exploited by her computer teacher in Kolaras town of Shivpuri district for more than a year. The survivor had joined computer coaching classes in 2011. Accused Bhupendra Tomar, 35, uploaded objectionable pictures of the woman on social networking sites after she refused to visit his institute after she got married.
Tomar was charged under sections for rape, SC/ST Act (prevention of atrocities) and IT Act.
The Times Of India
Bhardwaj wants religious leaders to lead from the front on temple entry
Special Correspondent
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj has advised religious leaders of Karnataka to lead from the front in ensuring entry to Dalits in all temples and eradicating the practice of untouchability in all forms.
At the inauguration of a dialogue on Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts by contemporary thinkers here on Saturday, he said that “it will go against Brahmins” unless they take this up as an important cause. They should remember that untouchability was against what the Upanishads prescribe, he said.
Mr. Bhardwaj recalled that Gandhiji had lived in the colony of ‘Harijans’ for a long time to understand and empathise with them. Though caste practices were abolished by the Constitution, it was still prevalent in society and Dalits were denied entry into some walks of life.
He said Gandhiji was a leader who united leaders from varying ideological positions on one platform. He described all his contemporaries as “his students who learnt from him.” Some present-day critics, he regretted, spoke “contrary to facts” while underlining the differences between leaders.
‘Not easy’
Writer and critic, N. Manu Chakravarthy, in his keynote address, said Gandhiji defies “comfortable appropriation and veneration.” There were many dualities to be encountered before understanding Gandhiji, which were “not easy”, he said.
Prof. Chakravarthy said Gandhiji’s texts resonate differently when read with other greats of his time, including Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia, who had their points of difference with him on various counts that appeared irreconcilable. However, there were also points of meeting and “reconciliatory gestures”, he added.
Present-day India, he said, which was in the grip of corporate powers that had no regard for the principles of truth, equality and social justice, had failed to find Gandhiji. Gandhian ideas were more alive in some of the Latin American countries, he added.
The Times Of India
Govt to fix accountability for dalit funds
Subodh Ghildiyal,TNN | Jun 15, 2014, 01.24 AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to fix accountability for diversion of funds meant for the welfare of dalits, a move that could institutionalize the concept of Special Component Plan (SCP) after four decades of drift.
The Union social justice ministry is planning to insert "penal provisions" in the implementation of the SCP that would make the "sanctioning authority" and the "implementation authority" in the states and the Centre liable for diversion of dalit funds. Though at an early stage, the plan is to recommend specific punishment for the violation.
The move is likely to be achieved by rewriting the rules on SCP, with the Centre and states in their ambit.
"We want to fix accountability in the implementation of SCP. We want the budget for SC welfare to be used as per norms," Union social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot told TOI. "This would act as a deterrent for the indifferent officialdom."
The SCP, also known as dalit sub-plan, mandates that the Centre and states should set aside funds for welfare of SCs in proportion to their population.
The dalit sub-plan has failed to take off in the four decades of its existence with most arms of the governments only doing lip-service.
The biggest problem has been the diversion of funds for non-dalit welfare measures. A reason behind its failure have been the constant battles by some ministries that they cannot divide funds into dalit and non-dalit compartments, like roads and schools that are used by all irrespective of their caste. Consequently, repeated efforts by the Centre to activate the SCP came a cropper.
However, many states have lately brought in laws to give a legislative backing to dalit sub-plan with Andhra Pradesh pioneering the initiative.
In UPA-2, the social justice ministry made a belated push in this direction at the fag end of its tenure but the move could not fructify.
As per the draft law, it was proposed that all states and Union ministries would submit 'dalit budgets' six months ahead of the fiscal and "nodal bodies" would approve the proposed expenditure on the "only for dalit" parameter.
The draft law also proposed that the governments formulate "incentives for commendable performance and disincentives for proven negligence and lack of due diligence by an official".
However, it could not move past the draft stage with the PMO turning down the demand from social justice minister Kumari Selja to rush it through the cabinet in the last month before the 2014 elections.
The Times Of India
Caste out of the village
Padmaparna Ghosh,TNN | Jun 15, 2014, 07.05 AM IST
The Bhagana rapes may have finally hit the headlines but the story of a two-year-old caste conflict that has left dalit families without access to water, work and school remains untold. Sunday Times travels to Haryana to track this tale of discrimination
Anarrow dirt lane in Bhagana village, a few hundred metres in length, has been Vikram Sindhu's universe for a year. Since February 2013, when a few young jat men beat him up in the village square, he hasn't felt safe enough to step out. "This is my jail," says Sindhu, a 22-year-old dalit, referring to the lane lined with homes of others from his community.
In this village in Haryana's Hisar district, jats are about 60% of the population and majority land-owners, while the 40% SCs and OBCs are mostly employed as labourers. Sindhu is one of the few dalits to have finished school and completed a year at an industrial training institute.
But today, he sits unemployed, unable to find work within the village because of a social and economic boycott dictated by the khap panchayat in 2012. The boycott, the result of a land dispute, means that dalit families do not get any work, access to water resources, grazing land or school. The khap order also states that anyone spotted speaking to these families will be fined Rs 1,100. In protest, 136 dalit families have been sitting outside the mini-secretariat in Hisar, the district headquarter, for the past two years. This year, on March 23, four underage dalit girls from the village were allegedly raped by local jat men, leading to the displacement of more families. The girls are protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar and vow never to go back. Seated next to them is another dalit group which has left Kanawani village in Greater Noida after dalit houses and a school were allegedly razed by the higher caste/land-holding families. About 100 dalit families left this village. Even in the recent case of rape and murder of two cousins (OBCs) in Badaun, UP, the victims' families have said that they will leave the village.
Cornered and pushed out
Displacement of victims of caste atrocities is common, say experts. "This (displacement) has been happening for many years. It is a result of strong nexus between upper castes with police, the administration and politicians," says Jyotsna Siddharth, research scholar on gender and caste issues at Delhi School of Economics.
Economic and social boycott are included under a pending amendment to The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 introduced by the UPA government last March.
Rahul Singh, a lawyer with the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, says, "Displaced families fear for their safety if they go back. Look at the Mirchpur case (Haryana), where the dalit families are still displaced. The 1989 Act has a provision for rehabilitation but it is not done. They (dalits) face employment, livelihood and education problems and end up worse off than they were."
Those displaced from Bhagana have had to pull their children out of schools and leave them with relatives in distant locations. Amarjeet, 35, a daily wage labourer unemployed now, tears up as he says, "They are powerful and we are poor. There is nothing else to be done." Locals like Sindhu, who owned milch animals, had to sell them because of no access to grazing lands. Sindhu's father, the family's only earning member, goes to the neighbouring village to find work every day. The only reason the family hasn't fled like the others is that they fear losing their only real possession, a ramshackle house on a small plot of land.
Land disputes are usually at the centre of caste conflicts -the Kanawani village violence began with a quarrel over illegal occupation of common land. In Bhagana, the clash is over 240 acres used as grazing pasture, to build cowdung mounds, play and even as a cremation ground. Ramphal Jangda, 42, a local dalit, says, "In 2012, the jats occupied the common land and wanted to divide it among themselves. They asked us to pay Rs 1,000 for 900 square feet."
The land dispute, at present, is being enquired into by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes under the POA Act and the local police department will submit its report soon.
While the Bhagana dalits blame the upper caste-dominated khap system for their oppression, the jats deny all charges levelled against them. Despite the rape of two girls being confirmed by the police and five men being arrested, Bhagana sarpanch Rakesh Kumar Pangal claims, "These girls went with the men of their own will. They were having love affairs. They just want compensation. It is scamming in the name of dalits." Pangal, a jat, also rubbished claims that common land was illegally occupied by them.
Protests backfire
Siddharth believes these situations arise when upper castes find their position challenged by dalits. "Today dalits are more aware of their rights and express their voice, especially the women. Protests do backfire for them in many ways, boycotts being one," she says. While legal means are the only recourse, whether registering cases under the POA Act helps is not clear since most cases are registered as regular crimes, and not under the Act. Sindhu, whose beating complaint was filed under the Act, says his attackers threatened to kill him and even registered a case of trespassing against him in retaliation. His water line was cut and he can't take local transport because it is controlled by jats.
He now walks to the nearest main road, two kilometres away. "When I went to school, the jat boys would say, 'If you guys study and become big, who will work on our fields'. That is why I finished school," says Sindhu, who home tutored his sister in class 12 after she dropped out of school because of all the teasing and taunts.
News monitored by Girish Pant-PMARC
.
Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/
..............................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/
..............................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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