DALIT ATROCITIES - 2005 - Indian Social Institute

Patna: A dalit youth in Bihar was branded a Maoist, beaten and handed over to the police by upper
caste men in East Champaran district - his fault was he had worn clean clothes and "dared" to enrol
himself in a college.
Premhansh Sah, 20, of Koudiya village was beaten by the "babus", or upper caste men, of the
village who abused him for daring to wear dark glasses and shoes in the village. The police let him
off after they found him innocent.
The police said Sah's relatives told them that upper caste men "disliked it" if a dalit youth wore clean
clothes and enrolled for higher education. "My son was disliked by the 'babus'. They had warned
him in the past to discontinue his education or face the consequences," Sah's widowed mother told
police officials. (Asian Age 30/6/05)
Custodial deaths of SCs: panel seeks data (2)
CHANDIGARH: The Chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the
Scheduled Tribes, Suraj Bhan, has alleged that the situation in Punjab was such that that it had to
consider means to "save the SCs from the Punjab Police." Dr. Bhan was interacting with reporters
after meeting top officers of the civil and police administration of the State here on Wednesday. He
sought statistics related to the custodial deaths of SC people and other alleged violations of the
Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act 1998. Dr. Bhan said that there had been an alarming increase in
such incidents since June 2004 in Punjab, which had the highest percentage of SCs in the country.
Other States reported higher incidents of atrocities but Punjab's custodial deaths were a cause for
alarm. Dr. Bhan said that the Punjab Government had not acknowledged a letter by his
predecessor in 2002. The Punjab Government has assured the deployment of an officer from the
SC at the SHO level, in sensitive areas across five districts. Chief Secretary Jai Singh Gill assured
the Commission that within a week, the Government would set up vigilance committees to monitor
the implementation of the statute. (The Hindu 30/6/05 )
Expedite welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes: Rangasamy (2)
PONDICHERRY: N. Rangasamy, Chief Minister, called upon officials concerned with the
implementation of welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes to achieve the goals set in the Special
Component Plan for the downtrodden. Mr. Rangasamy, who is the chairman of the State Level
Committee for Welfare of the Scheduled Castes, was addressing its second meeting here on
Wednesday. The Chief Minister who returned from Delhi after attending the 51st National
Development Council meeting on Tuesday, his Cabinet colleagues A. Elumalai (Local
Administration Minister) and M. Chandirakasu (Welfare Minister), legislators from reserved
constituencies, Secretary to the Government A.K. Chathurvedi, officials and heads of departments
implementing the welfare schemes for the downtrodden participated in the deliberations. The
meeting reviewed utilisation of funds sanctioned under the Special Component Plan for SC welfare
programmes and also identified the areas where improvement was yet to be shown, an official
source told newsmen at the end of the meeting. Sixteen per cent of the total budgetary allocations
has been earmarked under the plan for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes in Pondicherry. (The
Hindu 30/6/05 int)
JULY 2005
Two Bihar Dalit women in Nobel race (2)
PATNA: A ray of hope for recognition on a global scale is there for Bihar's two illiterate, Dalit
women social activists working at the grassroots level. Both of them belong to a Yadavdominated
nondescript Lakhnaur Khairi village in Madhubani district. The two Dalit women, Tiliya
Devi (in her mid-40s) and America Devi (in her mid-30s), who are associated with the
Jhanjharpur-based people's organisation "Lok Shakti Sangathan", are among those on the
preliminary list of nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize which is to be given to 1,000
women from all over the world jointly. Tiliya fought opposition from all quarters, including in her
home, for bringing about a change in the life of her downtrodden community. Along the way, she
succeeded in rallying hordes of women in favour of her fight for a better life and took on the might
of the upper-caste people who had encroached upon the agricultural land belonging to Mushars.