DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2009 - Indian Social Institute

SF Rodrigues to seek his intervention in the open auction of reserve land of their village and to withdraw
frivolous FIRs registered against them. Bhattal apprised the Governor that previously this piece of land
was auctioned only to Scheduled Caste families who were solely dependant on this for their livelihood but
this time the land was auctioned in open. The members of the delegation alleged that prior to Lok Sabha
election, SAD-BJP leaders had lured them by promising 5 marla plots and also coaxed them to build their
houses, but now after the elections their houses were demolished and they were evicted, besides cases
were registered against them. Bhattal urged the Governor to direct the concerned authorities to withdraw
FIRs lodged against 6 leading persons of the area as their houses were demolished and reserve land
was now with the Government. She also appealed to the Government to allot 5 Marla plots to landless
Dalits and also re-auction the said land only to Scheduled Castes as per previous arrangement. Terming
the racist attacks on Indians in Australia as unfortunate, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has urged the parties not
to politicise the issue to their advantage, rather they should play a pro-active role to reduce the tension
and maintain peace and amity. She lamented that some frustrated anti-social elements of Australian
origin were out to play the evil designs of creating fissures amongst the international community. (Pioneer
3/6/09)
Orissa minister in trouble over gangrape of Dalit girl (2)
Bhubaneswar: After a former assembly Speaker resigned following charges of sexual harassment last
year, the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa is again facing a controversy with a minister accused of
shielding the prime accused in an alleged gangrape of a Dalit woman. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribe Development Minister Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha is accused of attempting to hush up the incident at
Paikamal in Bargarh district, 350 km from Bhubaneswar. "The allegations against me are false and
baseless. Truth will prevail soon," Bariha told reporters today and alleged it was a 'conspiracy' against
him. Ruling BJD on Monday suspended Paikamal block chairman Mahesh Agarwal, one of the four
accused persons in the alleged gangrape of a 24-year-old Dalit woman on May 10. The woman was
allegedly raped by four persons, including Agarwal, at a godown of the Paikamal block office. The victim
in her complaint to the police alleged she had gone there to enquire about a government job when
Agarwal's associates took her to the godown and raped her. According to Baragarh Superintendent of
Police Ashok Biswal, medical examination of the girl confirmed rape. Though the minister was not named
in the FIR, he has been accused of shielding Agarwal and others as they belonged to BJD. Bariha had
allegedly visited the house of Agarwal after becoming a minister when the police were searching for him.
Agarwal, who has obtained anticipatory bail while the three others were absconding, was also spotted at
the election victory procession of the minister which was held after the alleged gangrape incident. (Indian
Express 3/6/09)
Dalit murder: CM packs off DGP to Azamgarh (2)
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh DGP Vikram Singh rushed to Azamgarh on Tuesday for a spot inspection after a
Dalit was murdered in the district. This is the second instance in less than a fortnight that the DGP visited
the scene of a crime where the victims were Dalits. Sixty-year-old Sabru, a native of Tithaupur village,
was beaten up by his neighbour Tej Bahadur and his three sons following a dispute over the sharing of a
common passage to their fields on May 29. He was admitted to a hospital, where he died on Monday.
Chief Minister Mayawati, addressing a meeting of SPs and DMs on May 25, had ordered that the DGP
would visit the spot, whenever a Dalit was murdered. Singh visited Sabru’s family and handed over a
cheque for Rs 1.7 lakh to his son. The money was drawn from the Chief Minister’s Discretionary Fund.
The DGP also ordered suspension of seven policemen, including the sub-inspector in charge of a police
post, and shifted the SO of Tarwa police station to the Police Lines for dereliction of duty. He also ordered
Azamgarh SP Ramit Sharma to seek explanation from ASP (City) OP Srivastava and Circle Officer (CO)
Rajesh Srivastava for not carrying out annual inspections of the police stations and outposts under their
jurisdiction. The DGP found that the sub-inspector in charge of the Bogairya police post and six
constables were unaware of the beats under the jurisdiction of the outpost. Singh also visited the Tarwa
police station and found that the police had not registered any complaint regarding disputes over grabbing
of land, encroachment of subways and drains in the villages. The DGP said the murder could have been
avoided if the police had intervened in the matter. (Indian Express 3/6/09)
Mayawati wants Centre to focus on schemes for Dalits (2)