DALIT ATROCITIES - 2005 - Indian Social Institute

neem tree in the temple. This led to a quarrel, in which Rajneesh was hit on the head. On seeing
his condition, enraged Dalits, beat up the head priest. Upper caste villagers retaliated by beating
up two Dalits. The local police refused to register an FIR filed by the Dalits while they registered
the FIR filed by the priest and upper caste villagers. Seven Dalits have been charged for offences
under the IPC of which four were arrested immediately, and later released on bail. The report
says that most Dalit youths have fled from the village in fear and the upper caste villagers have
completely ostracised Dalits. They have directed the village shopkeepers not to sell any
commodity to Dalits. The report says that on August 12, upper caste villagers set three houses
belonging to Dalit families on fire. According to the report, upper caste men beat up three Dalits
and assaulted a woman. An FIR was lodged at Chandhat Police Station under various sections of
IPC and Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act. None of
those named in the FIR have been arrested so far. The report points out that the crisis is a
culmination of events in recent years arising from the assertiveness of the Dalits in Badhram and
the awareness of their rights. Dalits in the village had refused to do `begar' or forced labour for
the upper caste villagers. The construction of a statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and a park on
Panchayat land had become a bone of contention between Dalits and upper caste villagers.
According to the report, the police and State administration have a history of siding with the
uppers castes. The district level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee required to set up as per the
SC and ST Prevention of Atrocity Rules is not in place. The Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad,
the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of the area and the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of
Police of Faridabad have not visited Badhram to assess the extent of atrocity, loss and damage
to property in order to submit a report to the State government as required by the SC and ST
Prevention of Atrocities Rules, 1995.The report has demanded that an FIR be lodged on the
basis of the complaint filed by Dalits on 24 July, immediate withdrawal of false cases foisted on
them, a CBI enquiry into the case, and compensation to the victims permissible under the SC and
ST Prevention of Atrocities Rules. (The Hindu 17/8/05)
Revised development norms for SC/ST areas (2)
NEW DELHI: In a significant decision aimed at speeding up development works in the Capital's
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe localities, the Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday approved revised
guidelines paving the way for undertaking such works in areas having 33 per cent SC/ST
population against the earlier limit of 50 per cent. An amount of Rs.22crores was also approved
for various works during the current financial year. The Cabinet, which met under the leadership
of the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, approved the new guidelines in view of the information
sought by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, on the steps taken by the Delhi Government for
the welfare of the SC/ST community in the Capital. As per the new guidelines, any residential
locality having SC/ST population of more than 33 per cent as per the 2001 census would be
eligible for getting works done under this scheme. Earlier, the residential localities were eligible
only if the percentage of such population exceeded 50 per cent.Under this new scheme, the
money would be used for repair, construction of common bathrooms and community latrines,
repair and relaying of side drains and pavements and repair of kuccha roads, concrete flooring of
approach roads and repair or construction of community centres. All residential localities located
on private land, in unauthorised colonies in extended Lal Dora resettlement colonies and colonies
carved out under the 20-Point Programme would be covered under this scheme. The issue had
created a stir last year when a large amount of the funds earmarked for such areas went
unutilised and in some cases it was even diverted for undertaking various other works in the
general category. (The Hindu 17/8/05)
Haryana, Punjab lead in atrocities against dailits (2)
New Delhi, Aug 19: Haryana and Punjab are the new front runners in getting dubious
distinction of being the most hostile places for dalits in the country. There has been a spurt in the
incidents of atrocities on dalits in the two north Indian states. If nine of them died in police custody
in Punjab\ life in neighbouring Haryana has become too harsh in wake of ostracisation. Talking to
this correspondent, Mr Suraj Bhan, chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes,
said "Nine dalits have died in police custody in the last one year in Punjab. But the state
government did not take any step to take action against the erring police officials. It was