DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

in the village, the Piramalai Kallars. Twenty-nine-year-old Nagammal, the boy’s mother, was courageousenough to have taken up the issue with the police in a place where caste panchayats rule the roost. Theirtwo-room house in the colony has images of B.R.Ambedkar. Dalits in the village cannot enter theSanthana Mariamman temple in the village; nor are they allowed to use the village square space. Theyhave no access to common property resources. Even at ration shops, Dalits are abused by caste Hindusif they get close to them, said Vairupandy (25) a Dalit youth. Dalits cannot sit in front of caste Hindus atbus shelters; there is no pathway for them to approach the graveyard and even during an emergency theyhave to use a circuitous route. The law of the land is that all issues pertaining to the villages should bedealt within the caste panchayats (kangaroo courts). Maayakkal (60) and other Kallar women in thevillage square said that they don’t eat food or drink tea in Dalit houses . When asked why they said it hasbeen the tradition for centuries. The village school has portraits of all leaders such as Kamaraj andMuthuramalinga Thevar, but none of B.R.Ambedkar. When the Dalits tried to have one, their efforts wereprevented by the Kallars. The village has a good number of Dalit youth who wish to see social changeduring their lifetime and want to put an end to such forms of discrimination. Both the Kallars and Dalits inthe village are economically dependent on agriculture and brick kilns, but a few among the former haveused their snack-making skills in northern states and have earned quick money to return and buildconcrete roof houses and buy land. The Dalits were angry that the District Collector had not visited thevillage to enquire about the incident. (The Hindu 13/6/13)Dalit moves NCSC against casteist remark allegedly by minority (2)JAJPUR (ODISHA): Unable to get justice from the local police, a dalit man from Odisha's Jajpur districthas moved the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) seeking "justice".Maheswar Bhoi (55),in a letter to NCSC, said that though he was abused in filthy language and castiest remarks by twomembers of minority community, the police ignored his complaints. Bhoi in his complaint said that he wascultivating a piece of land of Shaik Zuman (landlord) located in Saroi mouza as a Bhagachasi for the lastcouple of years. However, on May 9 when he objected Shaik Farastulla and Shaik Sarafatullah of localNeulpur village of pulling down the boundary line, they abused him in filthy language. "They alsothreatened to kill me if I opposed them further," Bhoi said in his complaint. Bhoi said he brought thematter to the notice of the landlord and subsequently filed a written complaint against the accusedpersons at the local Dharmasala police station. Dharmasala police neither registered a case in thisconnection nor took any action against the accused persons, Bhoi said adding that he moved the JudicialMagistrate First Class (JMFC), Chandikhole and sought its intervention to get justice. The JMFC directedthe Inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Dharmasala police station to register a case and take investigation.Though the police registered a case basing on his complaint, it did not take any action against accused,Bhoi said: " the duo was roaming freely and threatening me with dire consequence." "I have no otheroption but to approach the NCSC to get justice as police are showing indifference. Even after 36 dayshave passed since filing of my FIR no action has so far been taken in this regard." When contacted,Jajpur SP Deepak Kumar said the matter had not not been brought to his notice. (Times of India 15/6/13)“Uthapuram Dalit women are real heroes’’ (2)MADURAI: The brave Dalit women of Uthapuram are the real heroes who have fought a valiant battle.They have showed the world that if the oppressed and exploited along with the Left and pro-democraticforces stood up, they could beat any form of discrimination, said Communist Party of India (Marxist) PolitBuro member Brinda Karat. She was delivering a special address at a function held here on Saturday tohonour the advocates and social activists who fought for social justice in Uthapuram village near Maduraiwhere portion of a long wall that separated Dalits from caste Hindu locality was razed to enable access tothe common pathway of Dalits. Ms. Karat said that radical social change would happen only whenannihilation of deep-rooted caste prejudices and discriminatory practices against Dalits was undertaken.