DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

village. The Dalits are not supposed to travel by local transport services such as vans plying through the
village but only in State-owned transport buses. Apparently, the boycott has come as a severe blow to
their livelihood concerns. However, there has been no violence so far, though a posse of policemen has
been deployed in the village. It was on Basava Jayanti Day (April 27, 2009) that the village was divided
on caste lines with Dalits on the one side and upper and backward castes on the other because the Dalits
insisted on a place for three Dalit couples at the “pancha kalasha” mantap set up to conduct a mass
marriage organised by Sree Basaveshwar Sadbhakta Mandali. This, according to the mandali, was a
deliberate attempt to break the native convention but Dalits admit that they only tried to assert their right
to equality. According to I.B. Yargatti, a senior member of the mandali and other villagers, the mandali
has been organising mass marriages for the past 15 years. The mass marriage is open to all religious
and caste couples. This year, 80 couples entered into wedlock. According to a local practice, the couples
complete all rituals as per their own customs and traditions either at their house or temples concerned.
Finally, all converge at the main mantap for blessings followed by a feast. Maruti Kittur and Bheemappa
Kittur, elders representing Dalits, admit that this time they insisted on allowing the three Dalit couples to
complete all pre-“akshata” rituals at the main mantap set up in front of the presiding deity of the village,
Sri Dyamma Devi. However, the mandali did not heed the request of the three Dalit couples who had
come from Kharlakoppa, Hampiholi and Tadasi villages in the neighbourhood. The problem cropped up
when Dalits approached the mandali the next day demanding a clarification whether it would allow them
to perform rituals at the main mantap the next year. “When the mandali refused, we were annoyed and
felt insulted,” the elders said. “And, in a fit of anger, we not only demanded a place for us near the
‘pancha kalasha’ but also an opportunity to perform puja to the grama devathe, which was rejected by the
mandali,” Mr. Maruti said. The upper castes considered this as a threat and a deliberate attempt to break
the local customs wherein Dalits have been paying obeisance only by touching the steps of the temple of
the grama devathe. The question of allowing them inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple does not
arise, the villagers said. On being refused, the Dalits announced that if they were not treated equally, then
they will have their own way. “Nimdu neevo nodkori, namdu naav nodkotivee” (you take care of your
families yourselves and we will take care of our families ourselves). Enraged by this, the villagers
announced a boycott and a Rs. 500 fine. Mr. Yargatti said nobody was against the Dalits. “About two
years ago, we got installed an irrigation pumpset at a cost of Rs. 3.50 lakh made available by candidates
in various elections to facilitate irrigation in 42 acres of farmland belonging to Dalit families.” Fearing
assault, Dalits, who number about 75 living in 15 houses in the village which has more than 3,000 non-
Dalits, lodged a complaint against the villagers under the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Ramdurg Tahsildar
Geeta Kaulgi told The Hindu that the Deputy Superintendent of Police is looking into the matter. (The
Hindu 6/5/09)
SI gets life term for ordering fire on Dalits (2)
Mumbai: Manohar Kadam, a sub-inspector with the State Reserve Police Force, was on Thursday
sentenced to life imprisonment for unjustifiably ordering fire on Dalits here, in which 10 people were killed
and 26 injured. Mr. Kadam had ordered his police team to open fire indiscriminately on protesting Dalits at
Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar in suburban Ghatkopar on July 11, 1997. A special sessions court,
giving its verdict in the Ramabai case 12 years after the incident, sentenced Mr. Kadam under Section
304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC. Shakeel Ahmed, who
represented one of the victims, said the court stated Mr. Kadam had not complied with the single-firing
norm, nor had he taken any precaution. He had not assessed the situation and did not have a
megaphone to warn the people, who were protesting against the desecration of a statue of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar. He ordered the firing within 15 minutes of his reaching the sport at 7 a.m. The court rubbished
the police allegations that the Dalit protesters planned to set an oil tanker afire, stating they did not carry
deadly arms. Rejecting the contention that they endangered public safety, the court referred to a witness
statement that the protesters had asked passengers to alight from a bus. This showed that they had no
intention of causing hurt, Mr. Ahmed said. In a charged atmosphere outside the court, special public
prosecutor B.G. Bansode told journalists: “The judgment is the outcome of people’s fight for justice. We
had to struggle at every step to register the case, record statements of witnesses and file a charge sheet.”
The Ramabai case was plagued by many ills. Allegations of delaying tactics by the state machinery and
political manipulation were rife during the trial. Many saw the postponement of the verdict from April 27 to
May as a deliberate design to mitigate its impact on the April 30 elections. It took the government four
years just to appoint a prosecutor. The government was simply not interested in the case, Mr. Bansode