Police officer suspended for failing to protect Dalits during village conflict

A police officer was suspended on Monday for failing to contain the caste conflicts in Lakshmisagar and Basavana Shivanakere villages in Chitradurga district.

Bharamasagara sub-inspector of police Rajashekar was suspended for not providing adequate protection to the villagers, Chitradurga SP Labhuram said.

DNA had reported about one of the conflicts that had started after a woman allegedly helped a Dalit boy elope with a girl from the Nayaka community in Lakshmisagar in January.

Bhagyamma, a Dalit woman, was stripped naked and beaten up by a group of men, allegedly from the Nayaka community, on January 17. Later, her house was also allegedly set on fire.

On February 19, Bhagyamma came to Bangalore seeking justice. She said about 30 to 40 men from the Nayaka community had barged into her house on the morning of January 17. “They came to our house around 8 am. They beat me up for more than two hours and stripped me,” she said. “They then dragged me by my hair to the panchayat office. No one, except panchayat member Rajanna Sidappa came to my rescue.”

Bhagyamma said that after the incident, around 11 am, she and her husband were taken to the Bharamasagara police station, where they were kept till the evening. She underwent treatment at a government hospital in Chitradurga for more than four days, she said. Two accused were arrested, but they were released on bail, Bhagyamma said.

Labhuram said caste trouble in the region had erupted in February, too, during a village festival in Basavana Shivanakere village. The situation worsened since there were not enough policemen, he said. The cause for the conflict was the alleged misappropriation of funds in a temple.

S Sivalingam, state president of Swabhimani Dalit Shakti (SDS), an organisation working for Dalit empowerment, said the conflict took place on February 26.

“The village festival is observed every year at the Basaveshwara temple on February 25, 26 and 27. This year, on February 26, members of the Nayaka and Bhovi communities alleged misappropriation of temple funds. The funds are handled by the temple committee headed by people of the Lingayat community,” he said. Angered by the allegation, Lingayat men beat up Nayaka and Bhovi community members with machetes, he said.

“Policemen were withdrawn on February 26. Bhovis and Nayakas were beaten up after that,” a villager, who did not want to be named, said.

“Now, only women stay in the village, as Nayaka and Bhovi men have left out of fear,” Devaraj, a state committee member of SDS, said.

“We have demanded an inquiry into the misappropriation of money and also adequate protection for people in the village.” He said suspending the police officer was not enough. The villagers should be given protection so that they could return to the village safely, he said.

By Senthalir S

Daily News & Analysis newspaper (DNA)

March 9, 2010

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_si-suspended-for-caste-conflicts_1357008

Posted on: March 11, 2010