News RSSDalits say No to an age-old practice
Dalits say no to age-old practice in Narsinghpur
By Ritesh Mishra
Daily Pioneer
Nov. 24, 2009
http://www.dailypioneer.com/218020/Dalits-say-no-to-age-old-practice-in-Narsinghpur.html
Bhopal: Hundreds of Dalits living in the nearby villages of Gadarvara in the Narsinghpur district are suffering from discrimination and threat from the upper castes for saying no to an age-old malpractice.
The Ahirwars of Madgula, Nander, Devari and Tekapar villages had been picking up dead animals for ages. Lately however, the community members felt that because of their role, they were being discriminated against and looked down upon by the upper caste villagers. Hence, three months ago the community stopped picking up the dead animals.
Following this decision, the upper caste villagers, consisting mostly of Rajputs and Lodhis, wreaked havoc on the Ahirwars. They have been stopped from using public handpumps and roads falling in the area of the upper caste villagers.
Hari Singh of Devri village said the people of their community are only moving on the State roads since they had been stopped from using the roads in the areas of the upper caste villagers. He further ruled that there was only one general store in the village, and the Arihwars could not go even there. “The upper caste villagers are not giving back our grain sacks which are with them just because we have taken the decision not to pick up the cattle corpse,” he said.
Singh, who has done his masters in History from Jabalpur University further said even though he was educated, he was being discriminated against on the grounds of the traditional work of his caste. He felt humiliated everywhere. “All hand pumps except one are in their area and we are prohibited to take water from there,” he said.
Lal Singh of Tekapar village said three months ago they had decided not to pick up the dead animals. Since then, the upper caste villagers have started their oppression. He further said the upper caste included Rajputs and Lodhi, who are continuously exploiting the Ahirwars.
He said, “About two weeks ago, they threw a dead cattle in front of our house and abused us. They had closed their way for about 15 days after we opposed picking up the dead cattle.”
Ramesh Ahirwar of Nander village said after his community people took the decision not to up pick up the corpse of cattle, the upper caste villagers issued threats. “It was only when we submitted memorandum to the police and administration that the upper caste villagers stopped their ill-treatment,” he said.
Even though the Ahirwars of Devri and Tekapar have been living in misery for the past three months, the police say their problems have been solved. SHO, Sai Kheda, Asif Iqbal, said the police had got some complaints about three months ago and they took suitable actions. The police along with SDM, DSP and ASP visited these villages and all grievances were redressed.
He said the police have also provided toilets in some villages since the people of Ahirwar community were prohibited to go for natural call in the fields of upper caste. “We have not received any complaint for the last three months,” he said.
Similarly, SP, Narsinghpur, Kumar Ashish said initially there were some complaints and the police did its best to redress their grievances since it was a sensitive issue. The police have not received any complaints for the last few months and the Ahirwars are living in peace.
But the Ahirwars of Devri and Tekapar continue to lead a miserable life. The members of Nagrik Adhikar Manch and Yuva Samvad had visited the Nander, Madgula, Devri and Tekapar. They found that the Ahirwars were being ill-treated and threatened by the upper caste villagers.
Posted on: November 24, 2009
Woman murdered for marrying Dalit in Tamil Nadu
Woman murdered for marrying Dalit in Tamil Nadu
Original published as “Woman murdered for marrying Dalit in Tamil Nadu”
CHENNAI: In a gruesome honor killing, a 21-year-old woman was brutally murdered by her father and relatives in Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday for marrying a Dalit youth.
Sripriya, who belonged to the backward Kallar community, had fallen love with A Badhrakali, while she was doing an internship for her B.Ed course.
The couple eloped and got married in Salem on September 29. Police and relatives said Sripriya’s father Srinivasan and two relatives came to Madathukulam, near Udumalpet in Tirupur district, on Wednesday. The newly-wed couple was staying with Badhrakali’s sister in Madathukulam. Srinivasan asked Sripriya to come to Trichi to visit her mother who was ill.
‘‘She refused and told them she would decide after her husband returned home. They left quietly,’’ Badhrakali’s brother-in-law Chandrasekar said. ‘‘Then the two relatives returned. When my wife Rani and a neighbor questioned them, one man threatened them with a knife while the other stabbed Sripriya,’’ said Chandrasekar. Sripriya was stabbed on her neck, breasts and abdomen.
Posted on: November 10, 2009
Justice given for 1997 murder of Dalits
Originally published as “A shot in the arm,”
On October 22, the Supreme Court hit the nail on the head by upholding the life sentence awarded to 17 persons in the Melavalavu massacre case of 1997. Six Dalits, including the president of the local panchayat, K. Murugesan, were murdered by a mob of caste Hindus in an act of intolerance to empowerment of the oppressed. The Melavalavu case had sent shock waves across the country, much like the Keezhavenmani carnage of 1968 in which 44 Dalits were charred to death.
In 1996, the hostility of caste Hindus of Melavalavu village in Madurai district towards Dalits intensified after the local panchayat was designated as a reserved local body. The caste Hindus, mainly those belonging to the Ambalakarar community, adopted devious methods to disrupt the elections as they were not prepared to put up with a panchayat headed by a Dalit. They let loose terror, forcing the Dalit nominees to withdraw from the contest. When fresh elections were held, they resorted to booth-capturing, which warranted a re-poll. Although Murugesan was elected, he was not allowed to function freely. He faced constant threats from his detractors.
Finally, on June 30, 1997, when Murugesan, along with a few other functionaries of the panchayat, was returning to his village from Madurai after a meeting with government officials in pursuance of their demands, the caste Hindus attacked the bus in which they were travelling. The victims, who tried to flee, were hacked to death. Murugesan was beheaded.
Although 40 persons were cited as accused, the trial court on July 26, 2001, convicted 17 of them, including “accused No.1” Alagarsamy for offences under Section 302 (punishment for murder) read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and/or Section 149 IPC (unlawful assembly). The judgment was confirmed by the High Court through its verdict on April 19, 2006.
Filing appeals before the Supreme Court, Alagarsamy and others contended that the whole prosecution case was liable to be discarded on the basis of “irregularities” pertaining to the first information report (FIR). They also contended that the trial court had convicted them on the interested and discrepant testimony of the prosecution witnesses even as the FIR book itself could not be traced and the names of many persons in the case did not figure in the FIR. The appellants also argued that the first report sent by the Tahsildar of Melur to the District Collector and the Collector’s report to the Secretary, Public (Law and Order), did not mention the names of the accused.
However, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices V.S. Sirpurkar and Deepak Verma dismissed the appeals. The court also pointed out that the non-mention of names in these reports would be of no consequence as the officers were only informing the higher-ups.
“Considering the unprecedented nature of this prosecution, the chaos that it caused in the otherwise peaceful life of the village and the enormousness of the whole affair, the number of persons murdered, the number of witnesses collected and the enormousness of the investigation, we cannot blame the investigating agency and the prosecution for not being able to trace out the FIR book…. In our opinion, that circumstance, by itself, will not persuade us to throw the whole prosecution case,” the apex court observed.
“In fact, barring the aforementioned argument regarding the FIR, no arguments were led before us, assailing the evidence of the eyewitnesses, as also the injured witnesses and the other corroborating circumstances relied on by the courts below,” it pointed out.
The court also agreed with the comment of the High Court that there had been an attempt to win over the prosecution witness-1, Krishnan, after the cross-examination. Krishnan was declared hostile at the fag end of his cross-examination, it noted.
“We are convinced that the findings of the trial court and the appellate court are correct… in law. We find that there is no merit in the appeal and it deserves to be dismissed. It is accordingly dismissed,” the apex court said in its order.
The court order is a shot in the arm for those fighting for the empowerment of the oppressed.
Posted on: November 6, 2009
