DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

for security before the February 11 eviction plan but there could be no operation that day. The court hadagain instructed the officials concerned to implement the order before Saturday (March 2). On Friday, aheavy police contingent, quick reaction team, and fire brigade were at the village to avoid any clash andthe trust had the possession back smoothly. “We were there to implement the court orders but out ofsympathy, the trust agreed to spare the Dalit houses,” confirmed tehsildar Darshan Singh Sidhu. “TheMKJ Trust, however, will reclaim the land that is vacant.” "Everything was peaceful. The force didn’t haveto prevent anything,” said Bikramjeet Singh, deputy superintendent of police from Jaitu, who was at thesite. (Hindustan Times 1/3/13)‘Government not looking after Dalits’ (2)Hassan: State secretary of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Vada) Mavalli Shankar on Sunday allegedthat the State government was more interested in granting crores of rupees to religious institutions thanlooking after the poor and Dalits. He was speaking after inaugurating a programme, organised by theHassan district wing of the DSS, to mark Jyotiba Phule’s birth anniversary. Mr. Shankar claimed that alarge number of government schools and hostels had been closed in the last few years, denyinghundreds of students the opportunity to study. He also took serious exception to the government’s “lack ofaction” against the former president of the Karnataka Unaided Schools’ Management Associationpresident G.S. Sharma for his alleged derogatory remarks on admitting children under the 25 per centquota of the Right to Education Act. Praising Jyotiba Phule as the first man to open a school for girlchildren in India, Mr. Shankar said the students should be taught about his contribution. “Students shouldbe made to remember Jyotiba Phule,” he said. Artist K.T. Shivaprasad and D.G. Krishne Gowda werepresent at the programme. (The Hindu 4/3/13)Tension in Bhiwani village after clash over wedding tradition performed by dalit boy (2)BHIWANI: Police have been deployed in a village of Bhiwani district in Haryana following a clash betweendalits and upper-caste youths during a wedding ceremony on Friday night. The situation had turned tensewhen some upper caste youths forcibly stopped a dalit groom from performing ghurchari, a traditionalmarriage ceremony in which the groom rides a mare and takes a round of the village. An uneasy calmprevailed in Ratera village even on Monday, four days after the clash in which over a dozen persons,including women, had received injuries. Police on Saturday had registered a case under various sectionsof IPC and SC/ST Act against 20 upper caste youths and arrested ten of them on Sunday. However, withno comprise struck between the two parties, the entire village is living under a shadow of fear, sourcessaid. The dalit victim's family on Monday called on police officials and demanded the arrest of all accusedas around ten persons are still roaming free in the village. The dalit groom, Rakesh Kumar, 24, who isemployed as a conductor with Haryana Roadways, had got married on Friday. Before going to his bride'svillage to tie the knot, the marriage ceremony of ghurchari was being performed in the village on Fridaywhen some upper caste men objected, saying that ghurchari by dalits is not allowed in the village."Though police have arrested ten persons, some more are still present in the village, who could be athreat to us. We met the SP today and demanded that all the accused should be arrested", Rakesh's auntIndravati Devi said. Bhiwani SP Simerdeep Singh said that police had nabbed ten persons and deployedforce in the village and at the house of the victim. "The situation is normal in the village. A probe hasstarted into the case. Whoever found guilty would be arrested as police have booked the accused undervarious sections of IPC and SC/ST Act", he said. (Times of India 5/3/13)Panchayat imposes social boycott of Dalits (2)Patna: A panchayat in Bihar’s Kishanganj district has imposed social and economic boycott of Dalits as adeterrent to their filing of cases under the Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities)Act. The Dosia panchayat of Charakhpura village called upon the village not to sell provisions to Dalitsand exclude them from other facilities. The problem began after a Muslim woman had a fight with a Dalit