DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

BIKANER: In a barbaric act, a man allegedly burned alive a 28-year old married woman from the dalitcommunity, after she resisted a rape attempt in Hanumangarh's Nohar area late on Friday night. Thewoman was rushed to a hospital where she died on Saturday. In a bid to save her, the husband who wassleeping at his nearby-situated agriculture farm also sustained serious burn injuries and is undergoingtreatment. The police have rounded up the accused, who is a farmer. SHO, Nohar police station AntarSingh said the victim was sleeping inside her house along with her four-year-old daughter while herhusband and brother-in-law were protecting crop at their farm. "Jitendra Singh Rajput alias Jitu who isalso a farmer from the same village, sneaked into the victim's house and pounced on the victim. Caughtunaware, she woke up and started screaming," said the officer. The officer said as per the FIR registeredwith the police, Jitu sprinkled kerosene on her which he brought along with him and set her on fire. "Hewas apparently irked over the resistance. Hearing the screams, the woman's husband and his brotherrushed to the spot to find her burning. Jitu had escaped by then," said the officer. The woman hadsustained over 70% burns by then, her husband and brother-in-law managed to douse the fire. SP,Hanumangarh Kunwar Rashtradeep told TOI the cops rushed to the spot immediately after they wereinformed, The victim was rushed to a hospital. The SP Rashtradeep said the victim's statement wasrecorded in the presence of a magistrate. She died around 10am on Saturday. Police said that thehusband's condition is also serious. "His hands and some other body parts sustained burns. He is alsoadmitted to the Hospital. He is, however, out of danger," said the %officer. CO, Nohar Kishori Lal, toldTOI following the victim's husband, police registered a case under sections 302, 450, 376, 511 and 307 ofIPC and section 3 of SC/ST. (Times of India 5/5/13)Dalit houses attacked, 4 hurt (2)CHANDIGARH: Four people were injured when a Jat community mob attacked dalit houses in Dalit Bastiat Mangalpur villagein Jind district on Saturday night. Following the incident tension gripped the area andJind deputy commissioner M L Kaushik and SP Balwant Singh Rana are camping in the village. A specialpolice post has been set up to guard around 1000 dalits living in the village. The incident was triggered bythe Jat youths when they caught and beat up one Shamsher Singh, a mentally challenged youth allegingthat he is a tractor thief. Police have started the investigation after registering a case of rioting against twodozen persons following a complaint by Shamsher's sister Premo Devi whose house was attacked by themob. In her complaint, Premo Devi said her brother had strayed into the fields of Gaje Singh and Sonu onSaturday night. "They caught and beat my brother. After thrashing Shamsher, they attacked our houseand other houses in the dalit basti,'' she said. The SP said the situation is under control and therepresentatives of both the communities have resolved to maintain peace in the village. "We haverounded up four persons and they are being questioned. At the same time police teams have beenconstituted to nab the other accused,'' he said. (Times of India 6/5/13)Pabnawa Dalit families get financial aid, start returning home (2)Chandigarh: Dalit families, which were forced to leave Pabnawa village in Haryana's Kaithal district afterallegedly being attacked by the members of upper caste Ror community last month, have startedreturning to their homes. Over 200 families had left their homes, when a boy from their community hadeloped with a Ror and got married. Taking cognizance of the incident, the Haryana government hadannounced a monetary compensation to the affected families. Kaithal Deputy Commissioner ChanderShekhar on Wednesday gave away cheques worth Rs 79.50 lakh from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund asfinancial assistance to 282 families. While Rs 38 lakh was given towards providing 10 quintals of wheateach to the 282 Dalit families, each family was handed over a cheque of Rs 5,000 for dry fodder. Amongthe affected families, 80 families were given financial assistance of Rs 21,000 each. Two families of KaliRam and Chandgi Ram were provided financial assistance of Rs 51,000 and Rs 41,000 respectively. Thecommunity has also suffered a loss of five motorcycles and to compensate this, some villagers weregiven cheques of Rs 10,000 each. Another resident, Hukam Chand, was given a cheque of Rs 15,000 in