DALIT ATROCITIES - 2005 - Indian Social Institute

Guidelines to reserve seats for SCs, STs (2)
Bhubaneswar, July 4: THE CRITERIA for reserving Assembly seats for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and
Scheduled Caste (SC) will follow guidelines issued by the Delimitation Commission to the state
election commissioners throughout the country. While seats would be reserved in those
constituencies for STs, where their population is the "largest", seats for SCs would be reserved in
those constituencies, where their population was comparatively large". In a letter, Shangara Ram,
secretary of the Delimitation Commission, said the constituencies to be reserved for STs will be
those, where the percentage of ST population was the largest.....". However, Scheduled Caste
constituencies will be distributed in different parts of the state and seats will be reserved for
Scheduled Caste in those constituencies, where the percentage of their population to the total
population is comparatively large. While working out the allocation for each district, the number of
seats to be reserved for SCs in those districts will have to be worked out separately If a district
has five seats with the highest proportion of ST population in a state, all the five seats in the
district will be reserved for STs. But in case of reservation for SCs, all the five seats will be
distributed among five districts. Each constituency in these districts having the highest
percentage of SC population will be reserved for them. The letter adds, "The Delimitation
Commission has decided that all Assembly constituencies in a district will be confined within the
territorial limits of that district." (Hindustan Times 5/7/05)
Dalit groups demand arrest of rapists (2)
JAIPUR: Dalit groups have demanded arrest of persons responsible for alleged rape and
consequent murder of a 32-year-old Dalit woman labourer in a crusher unit at Todaraisingh in
Tonk district of Rajasthan last month. The demand follows the report of a fact-finding team which
visited the area. In a memorandum to Pawan Surana, Chairperson of the State Women's
Commission, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights said what the local police were
making out to be an accident involving a stone crusher was a case of gang-rape by two
employees of the factory. "The duo, after calling the victim on the pretext of making her the
payment of her wages on June 19, had repeatedly raped her and murdered her thereafter," the
memorandum alleged. "In order to destroy the evidence and make it appear an accident they
threw her into the crusher,'' Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Rajasthan People's Union
for Civil Liberties, who accompanied the fact-finding team, said. An enquiry committee of the All
India Progressive Women's Association which visited the area also has come out with similar
observations. "It is a case of rape and murder and there is evidence available to prove it,'' Srilatha
Swamination, AIPWA president, said. "It is a matter of concern that the police are protecting the
murderers. The Deputy Superintendent of Police told us that there was no evidence to arrest the
suspects as it was an accident case,'' Satish Kumar, State secretary of NCDHR, said. The first
information report in the case is registered under Sections 302, 376 IPP and under 3(i)(xii), 3(i)(ii)
and 3(i)(v) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. The memorandum, charging that it was a
"clear case of rape and murder'', said the perpetrators were politically influential people. (The
Hindu 6/7/05)
Reservation for Dalit Christians urged (2)
KOTTAYAM: Dalit Christian Maha Sabha (DCMS) has called for special reservation for the
community in panchayats. Speaking to media persons, State president of the organisation Peter
Anakkallu said the State Government was well within its rights to provide adequate representation
for Dalit Christians in the Panchayati Raj Act. Alleging discrimination on the basis of religion, Mr.
Peter said that while Governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
have made recommendations supporting inclusion of Dalit Christians in the schedule list, both the
United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Governments had failed to
make a positive move in this direction. The organisation will take out a march to the house of
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Puthuppally on Sunday, July 17, organisers said. (The Hindu
8/7/05)
SC panel to meet seers on text review (2)
New Delhi, July 8: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes will ask all the religious heads
to screen sacred books of all religions for deleting derogatory remarks against Scheduled Castes.