DALIT ATROCITIES - 2005 - Indian Social Institute

spare even the policemen. Former DSP Kuldeep Shivach and disrobed and beaten up in his
office, informed a villager. "The incident is not an outcome of caste dispute. It represents people's
frustration over and anger against their misdeeds," he said. The Haryana bandh called by the
Dalit panchayat, meanwhile, received a muted response. Shops and vends functioned as usual in
the area. (3/9/05)
`Mahapanchayat' rules out caste animosity (2)
GOHANA (HARYANA): The "sarvajatiya-panchayat" attended by "sarpanches" of 96 villages,
including those from the Dalit community, on Friday termed the burning down of houses at
Balmiki Basti in the Gohana sub-division of Sonepat on Wednesday as a fall-out of the murder of
a young man on August 27 and not a result of any animosity between the two communities.
Attended by over 5,000 people, the meeting began at the Nai Anaj Mandi on Jind Road around
11 a.m. During the meeting, "sarpanches" of different villages expressed their views on the
episode. At 1-30 p.m., the "panches" issued a statement demanding immediate arrest of the rest
of the accused responsible for the murder of Baljeet, a resident of Gadhwal village. The
"panchayat" gave the administration a deadline of two days to arrest the accused, Lara and Kaka,
residents of Valmiki Basti, and a constant a source of trouble. The Inspector General of Police
(Rohtak Range), V.N. Rai, confirmed that Lara and Kaka had a criminal past and had earlier been
arrested in cases of rioting and petty fights. Claiming that most of the people named in the FIR on
the burning down of about 35 houses were not the actual culprits, the "panchayat" urged the
administration to arrest the real ones instead. After the meeting hundreds of people sat on dharna
on Jind Road, blocking vehicular movement and demanding the arrest of those who murdered
Baljeet. Earlier, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party president, Mayawati, visited Valmiki Basti and met
those rendered homeless due to the incident. She demanded appropriate compensation for them
and also a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. (The Hindu 3/9/05)
SEPTEMBER 2005
UP village stops dalit mukhiya (2)
New Delhi, Sept. 3: Forty-two-year-old Vitthan, wife of Sonpal, who won the panchayat election
from Marriayaa block of Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, was forced to miss the oath-taking
ceremony that took place on Friday as the upper caste community of the village was angry at a
dalit woman becoming mukhiya (village head). Ms Vitthan, the elected representative of the
people of Marriayaa, can not even enter her village now. She has been on the run since August
28 — the day she was elected — as the village landlords had threatened her of dire
consequences if she dared return. She came to New Delhi and lodged a complaint with the
National Commission for Scheduled Castes. Rupram Nishad, elder brother of Sonpal, blames her
political rivals for the misery of Ms Vitthan. "Azad Kumar Yadav, who was defeated by Vitthan, is
the main accused who is behind the incident. He, along with Satish Singh Yadav, Chuna Yadav,
Ashok Kumar Yadav and Mohan Singh Yadav, attacked Vithan soon after the declaration of result
on August 25," Mr Rupram said, adding that they threatened her to resign from the post of
mukhiya and leave the village. (Asian Age. 4/9/05)
NHRC takes note of Gohana incident (2)
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday took suo moto
cognisance, based on media reports, of the torching of houses belonging to Dalits by a mob
belonging to upper castes at Gohana in Sonepat district of Haryana, on August 27. It has directed
that the news reports be sent to the Chief Secretary, Haryana, and the District Magistrate,
Sonepat, and asked for their response within four weeks. (The Hindu 4/9/05)
Dalits block traffic (2)
OVER HUNDRED Dalit activists jammed traffic for about half an hour at Peeragarhi Chowk in
Paschim Vihar area in west Delhi to protest against the Gohana incident in which houses of Dalits
were burnt on last Wednesday. The Dalit leaders blocked the traffic at about nine in the morning.
They demanded action against the accused and compensation for the victims whose houses
were burnt. Few of them also shouted slogans saying "That Dalits all over the country would unite