Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 11.06.14
Dalit Groom Thrashed over Marital Ritual - The New Indian Express
Rs 21,000 fine for interacting with dalits in a Punjab district: Report - The Times Of India
'Rise in atrocities against dalits in Haryana shows lack of cop action' - The Times Of India
SC/ST Act biased, prone to misuse, says plea in HC - The Times Of India
HC: no nod needed for initiating proceedings - The Hindu
The New Indian Express
Dalit Groom Thrashed over Marital Ritual
By Express News Service
BHOPAL: A young bridegroom belonging to the Dalit community was beaten up by the upper castes in MP’s Chhatarpur district, some 340 km from here,for riding a horse during his marriage procession.
Manoj Ahirwar,22,who came under attack, was bestride the stallion during the marriage procession in Sadhwa village on June 6, according to Chhatarpur district police chief, Lalit Shakyavar.
“The accused, who hailed from the same village and belonging to the upper caste, started abusing the people, who were part of the procession and later thrashed the groom for allegedly riding a horse. We have arrested seven people in the case,” the SP told Express.
Following a complaint lodged by Ahirwar,13 persons have been arraigned in the case. And they have been booked under the relevant Sections of IPC and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities act). “Seven out of the 13 have already been arrested and we are carrying out search operations to nab the remaining six, who have apparently fled the state,” Shakyavar added.
The Times Of India
Rs 21,000 fine for interacting with dalits in a Punjab district: Report
Amaninder Pal Sharma,TNN | Jun 12, 2014, 05.20 AM IST
PATIALA: Already in news for allegedly organizing a boycott of dalits, upper caste community of Baupur village in Sangrur district had announced that penalty of Rs 21,000 would be imposed in case any member interacted with a dalit in the village, revealed a draft report of an independent fact finding team which visited the village last month.
The upper caste villagers boycotted dalits last month, after members of the lower caste community demanded one-third of village common agriculture land on rent.
Claiming that an announcement to boycott dalits was made from the village's religious place on Mach 16, the report, quoting the announcement, reads, "Nobody shall take these people on work, ban their entry in fields, cut off any exchange of ghee, milk or lassi...anybody who shall keep contact with dalits will have to pay a fine of Rs 21,000".
The incident hogged the headlines after Rajesh Bagha, chairman of Punjab Scheduled Castes Commission, visited the village last week. Krishan Singh, who represents dalits of the village, claimed that the boycott was still continuing in some form or other. "On the other hand, district and police officials are claiming that there is no boycott," he added.
So much so that two dalit families reportedly migrated from the village on Tuesday due to unavailability of job.
The report is prepared by the research scholar of Punjabi University, Patiala, members of Students for Society (SFS), Panjab University, Chandigarh, and a Chandigarh-based NGO "Lokayat".
The report said the village has 81 acres of agricultural common land, out of which 27 acres are reserved for dalits.
"As it is a prevalent practice all over Punjab, the land reserved for dalits is never cultivated by them. The dominant landlords bid for the land on dalits' names. So generally the Jats would bid for around Rs 50,000 to 60,000 per acre, which is obviously not affordable by the dalits who don't have any means or resources".
This time the dalits refused. They decided to get the land by their collective efforts so that they could get the land for the collective farming, which ultimately led to their boycott," reads the report.
Krishan Singh said the bidding for village common land could not be materialized despite three attempts by the administration.
The Times Of India
'Rise in atrocities against dalits in Haryana shows lack of cop action'
Sukhbir Siwach,TNN | Jun 11, 2014, 04.33 AM IST
CHANDIGARH: If the FIRs lodged by Haryana police are to be believed, cases of atrocities against dalits in the state have increased in the past four years. The conviction rate in these years remained very poor apart from decline in chargesheets submitted by police to courts after probe.
According to National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) member Ishwar Singh, the number of FIRs increased to 257 in 2013 from 238 in 2010 in cases related to atrocities against dalits, including rape and murder. However, chargesheets went down to 146 in 2013 from 170 four years back, he added.
According to National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) member Ishwar Singh, the number of FIRs increased to 257 in 2013 from 238 in 2010 in cases related to atrocities against dalits, including rape and murder. However, chargesheets went down to 146 in 2013 from 170 four years back, he added.
"It shows lack of action on the part of police. There are 40 lakh dalits in Haryana, while Punjab has 70 lakh. But it appears that Haryana has more cases of dalit atrocities," alleged Ishwar, a former Rajya Sabha member.
Haryana DGP S N Vashisht, though, said the increase in number of FIRs doesn't necessarily indicate rise in crimes against SCs. "We lodge FIRs as soon as we receive any complaint and ensure a fair probe," he claimed.
Ishwar also claimed that dalits even face discrimination in promotions and postings in government jobs, saying the government had recently shifted the lone superintendent of police (SP) from dalit community from a district. "The state government has failed to clear the backlog of vacancies for SC category in government jobs despite its promise to fill 10,000 posts by January. How would it fill these posts in a short span of time before the assembly polls?"
He also criticized the authorities for giving 100 square yard plots each to dalits away from villages. "If land for plots to dalits is not available near the villages, government should acquire it like it does for Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) sectors. In some villages, plots have been allotted to dalits at the site of ponds," he claimed.
Referring to his village in Kaithal district, the former Congress leader said, "Even in my village, a liquor vend had been opened near the dalit colony. But I would ensure it is shifted soon."
Giving reasons behind atrocities on dalits, Poonam Chand Ratti, former leader of safai karamcharis (sanitation workers), said people from upper castes were not ready to take assertion among the disadvantaged sections. "Unfortunately, there is no social movement to bridge the gap between upper castes and SCs," he added.
However, a senior Jat leader Sube Singh Samain claims that cases of personal disputes are projected as atrocities on a particular community for political gains. "There are stringent provisions in the law to protect dalits so nobody can dare to harass them on the name of caste," he maintained.
The Times Of India
SC/ST Act biased, prone to misuse, says plea in HC
TNN | Jun 11, 2014, 02.41 AM IST
CHENNAI: Amid allegations of abuse of the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act, a PIL filed in the Madras HC now says the law, which was made further stringent through an ordinance by the UPA government at the Centre days ahead of the general elections, is discriminatory as it treated all non-dalits as a separate class.
Pointing out that a majority of cases registered under the Act end in acquittal, indicating its abuse, the PIL filed by Advocates Forum for Social Justice president K Balu said the amended version of the legislation said onus of disproving the accusation of atrocity on dalits was on non-dalits facing the charge.
Referring to the harassment allegations levelled by a judge of the Madras high court against some of his companion judges, the petition said, "The need for judicial review is indispensable due to the havoc it creates in the public administration, from class IV employees to high court judges."
The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sundresh issued notice to state and central governments, and asked them to file their responses in three weeks.
Seeking to distinguish the term untouchability as mentioned in the Constitution from 'atrocity' as defined in the Act, Balu said the latter had gone beyond the constitutional mandate. Article 17 of the Constitution, in fact, does not confine the issue untouchability to SC/STs alone, he said, adding, "It addresses untouchability against all classes in general, without restricting it to any particular class. It is not addressed in favour of SC/STs as a separate class." Article 17 intends to punish "whoever commits an act of untouchability against any person", and there is no special reference to SC/STs, he said. The ordinance promulgated by the UPA government, however, opens with the sentence, "whoever not being member of the SC/ST," restricting untouchability to a particular community. "The Constitution never conceived and expressed the term atrocity on a par with untouchability," Balu said.
The PIL wanted the court to declare the provisions of the Act as unlawful, and as an interim measure restrain the authorities from registering any complaint under any of the provisions of the Act.
The Hindu
HC: no nod needed for initiating proceedings
Special Correspondent
Justice P.D. Rajan of the High Court of Kerala on Tuesday held that sanction was not required for initiating criminal proceedings against police personnel who were not in charge of maintaining public order.
The Judge made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by B. Harikumar, suspended sub-inspector, Nedumungad, challenging a criminal proceedings initiated against him under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.
The court observed that it was clear that the persons in charge of maintenance of public order were protected and not the person in charge of maintenance of law and order.
The judge said the benefits of Section 197(2) and (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Sanction) were not available in the petitioner’s case.
Plea for early release
A writ petition was filed on Tuesday by a convict who had been transferred from a Sri Lankan jail following a bilateral agreement with the country, seek his release from the Central Prison, Viyur.
According to the petitioner, Patani Aharaf, he arrived from Sri Lanka in 2013 after a bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka on the transfer of sentenced convicts came into force .He was convicted by a Sri Lankan court on a charge of drug trafficking.
The petitioner said that he had completed 14 years imprisonment.
News monitored by Girish Pant- PMARC
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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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