DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

against it. People accompanying the girl were horrified and decided to take her to the Post GraduateInstitute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak for an examination. Mr. Kalsan said he would move the HighCourt if the the police tried to scuttle the case. (The Hindu 25/9/13)Dalit suicide: Atrocity charge against GIDC officer not applicable, rules HC (2)Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court (HC) has prima facie taken a view that the charges of caste-basedatrocity levelled against an officer of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) inGandhinagar with reference to the suicide of a Dalit clerk earlier this month are not applicable. The courtobserved this while acting on a quashing petition moved by one of the three accused officers in the case.Based on a complaint lodged by the brother of the deceased, the officer and two others had been bookedfor abetment to suicide by Gandhinagar police under the provisions of the IPC and Scheduled Castes &Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act, commonly known as the Atrocity Act. Naresh Chavda, aclerk with the GIDC, had committed suicide by consuming insecticide on September 2 in Udyog Bhavan.Naresh's brother, Raju, had lodged a complaint, accusing three officers for the suicide of his brother. Thepolice registered an FIR against them. In his FIR, Raju named the three officers as Pathak, Vijay Shahand Samir Vakil. Issuing notices to state government and Raju, the court has posted the matter for furtherhearing on October 10. (Indian Express 26/9/13)MP: Dalits told to get clicked with dead animals for wards’ scholarship (2)Indire: Finding no way out, the Dalits in Dahi block of Dhar district are now busy in getting theirphotographs clicked in front of dead animals as per ‘order’ by the local tehsildar. The photographs will actas a ‘proof ’ and help their wards avail scholarships of ` 1,850 per year under Ashurakshit Dhandho MeinLage Parivaar Ke logo Ke Vidhyarthiyon Kee Purva Matric Scholarship scheme of the state However,such a clause had never been put while filling forms. “I have made this ‘clause’ for my personalsatisfaction. How would I believe that a person is from that particular community? I have not stoppedanyone from signing but demanded the photographs as proof. There is no such clause of the governmentbut I have to do this to ensure there is no fraud,” said tehsildar Dahi DK Dubey. Meanwhile, dissent isbrewing among the community people. Some are compelled to click photographs for the sake of thefuture of their children, while others have decided not to draw the scholarship, citing that the clause is an‘insult’ to their community. Bharat, the representative of the community, said this was for the first time theclause was added. “Our children get ` 1,850 as scholarship from the government every year and thisamount is enough for us. However, most of us are not going to certify the form because the tehsildar isasking for a photograph while doing the act,” he said. Shaane, a resident of Piplod village of the block,has gone to certify the documents for about five times. “The tehsildar is asking for a photograph as proof.We have a certificate of the village panchayat, but he refused to sign without the photograph,” Shaaneadded. Another member of the community, Raval Singh, said the tehsildar’s order has insulted ourcommunity. There are more than 250 children from this community in about 150 families in the block andall will suffer if this clause continues to be in place. The tehsildar’s ‘demand’ has agitated the dalits asthey virtually have to plead photographers to get their pictures with dead animals. At least a dozenenraged members of the community have faxed a letter to district collector complaining about the clauseon Thursday. (Hindustan Times 28/9/13)Four held for ostracising DalitsDHARMAPURI: Four persons were arrested here on Friday on charges of ostracising Dalits. Police saidK. Maadhu (45) alias Muthukan, milk procurer from a private dairy, M. Ramamurthy (38), G. Saravanan(35), who owns grocery shops and P. Peraman (51) owner of a bunk stall at Mahendramangalam villagewere arrested on charges of socially boycotting 170 Dalit families living in two colonies in the village.Sources said the problem arose when Dalits started putting up huts to oppose caste Hindus who hadplanted mango saplings a few days ago on a two-acre land belonging to Basaweswara Temple. It was