DALIT ATROCITIES IN INDIA - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

Bhopal: THEFT OF forest wood from the jungles of Khandwa district is causing problems to thepolice. Such an incident triggered a case of excesses against a Dalit in Rajgarh village. Thepolice have registered a criminal case and arrested the offenders. According to the police, a teamof Forest department raided the village few days ago and seized a large amount of wood from thepossession of over a dozen influential people of the village. Later, those people found out that alocal Dalit had tipped off the forest officials in connection with illegal felling of trees. Following this,seven offenders including six of upper caste caught the Dalit, Harakchand and severely beat himup. They kept him in captivity and paraded him in the village, garlanding him shoes. The policecame to know about the incident after 24 hours and an FIR was registered with the Piplaud policestation under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Eradication Act against Suresh,Mahesh, their father Jagannath, Subhash, Dashrath, Kailash and Shivlal. Superintendent ofPolice DC Sagar told The Pioneer that all the accused have been arrested and Rs 7,500 havebeen given as compensation to the victim. (Pioneer 12.10.04)15 th OctoberHundreds of Dalits embrace Buddhism (2)PERAMBALUR. OCT. 14. Hundreds of Dalits from the Southern States today embraced Buddhismin the presence of monks from the Nagpur monastry, in Perambalur district. Their ordinationfollowed an administration of oath and 'Boudh Dhamma Diksha' by Bhante Bodhi Dhamma, founderand national president, International Buddhist Youth Organisation (IBYO). "Renouncing"Hinduism and Hindu Gods were among the oaths administered at the ceremony, organised bythe Dr. Am-bedkar Youth Front and the IBYO. About 1,500 people took the final oath. Over 50people had their heads tonsured. K. Kandasamy, State president of the Dr. Ambedkar YouthFront and K.B. Dhamma Sen, IBYO State secretary, said embracing Buddhism was their onlysolution from the sufferings and "subjugation" caused by "caste-ridden" Hinduism. They assailedthe Dravidian parties for blocking the rise of Dalit-centric political parties. During the daylongceremony, groups of people came from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karna-taka, Pondicherry, andparts of Tamil Nadu, including Tuticorin, Vellore, Chennai, Tiruvannamalai and Ramanathapuram.(The Hindu 15.10.04)16 th OctoberPlea for National Commission for Backward Classes rejected (2)NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. The Supreme Court today declined to entertain a writ petition filed by aMember of Parliament seeking a direction to the Centre and States to create National/StateCommissions for Backward Classes within a specified period. A Bench of Justice Y.K. Sabharwaland Justice D.M. Dhar-madhikari while dismissing the petition filed by Asaduddin Owaisi fromAndhra Pradesh, asked the petitioner to first approach the Governments and if no action wastaken, to come to the court. The Bench told the counsel that as an MP, he could have raised thematter in Parliament and tried to get a legislation passed. To a question from the Judges whetherthe petitioner had approached the Government in this regard, the counsel said 'no' and thereforethe bench asked the petitioner to approach the government first. The petitioner submitted that theMuslim community was not adequately represented with reference to their population, either ineducational institutions or in the posts under the control of the State. (Hindu 16.10.04)18 th OctoberCaste tension in UP village (2)Ghaziabad: TENSION IS prevailing in village Nangla Musha after students in school here refusedto take meal prepared by a Dalit woman under Central Government sponsored mid-day mealscheme for school children. Gopi, husband of the Dalit women, Pradhan of the village, said themeal would only be prepared and served by his wife and up-pradhan Vimla. No other womanwould be allowed to prepare meal for the school children. The Dalit community of the village isenraged after the incidence. In a, meeting under the chairrixanship of Gopi, passed a resolutionthat if the school children continue to' boycott the meal, it would not be allowed to be served inthe school. The meal would only be prepared and served by his wife Vimla. Principal of theschool Anand Swarup said there are 131 students in the school and 100 students refused to takethe meal prepared by Vimla. On the day when the students refused to take the meal, there were