DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

provisions under the SC/ST Act in the FIR on the youth's death only after her intervention. Two assistantsub-inspectors and a head constable were arrested on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in thecustodial death of the youth. Only a few days ago, Selja had accused a section of the state partyleadership of trying to intimidate her. Her comments came after an unidentified youth flung a rock throughthe window of a train she had flagged off from her constituency, Ambala. Ambala City MLA, VinodSharma, attended the youth's funeral on Thursday and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for thevictim's family. (Times of India 18/10/13)Dalits suffer social boycott in Maharashtra village (2)Buldhana (Maharashtra): Suman Tayde, a resident of Yerkad village in Buldhana district of Maharashtra,is growing anxious as her 14-month-old granddaughter Dipti has not had any milk since October 12. It isnot that the village has run out of supplies. Dalits of the village have been facing a social boycott andhave not been allowed to buy anything from shops. They have even been denied access to the flour mill.On Monday last, Suman went to Balaji Kunte, a caste Hindu, and requested him to spare some milk forDipti. Balaji Kunte’s wife told her, “If we give you milk, our caste people would punish us with socialboycott.” “We are living on rice. Now they [caste Hindus] are threatening us that the road leading to ourlocality would be blocked,” says Tulsabai Telgote, Suman’s neighbour. “Afraid, our girls have not steppedout of the house since October 12.” The recent tensions in Yerkad can be traced to the January 26incident when some caste Hindus did not allow B.R. Ambedkar’s photo to be put up alongside photos ofother leaders during the Republic Day ceremony. “We were silent then but on the day of Maha Shivratri inMay this year, they [caste Hindus] uprooted a Panchashil [the Buddhist flag] and replaced it with a saffronflag,” claims Jagdish Bhandare. Since the Maha Shivratri incident, no Dalit labourer has been allowed towork in caste Hindus’ farms, claim members of the community. On October 12, tensions escalated after adispute led to caste Hindus allegedly attacking Dalits. The Dalits claim the caste Hindus resorted to verbalabuse of Dalit women, stoned the Ambedkar statue and filed “false complaints of theft” leading to thearrest of 15 Dalits. Uttam Wankhede said that on October 12 when Dalit women were offering prayersnear the Ambedkar statue to the Bodhivruksha tree before leaving for Nagpur to attend theDhammachakra Pravartan Din ceremony at Deeksha Bhoomi [celebrations of Dalits converting toBuddhism on October 14, 1956, under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar]. Some caste Hindus cameand passed on vulgar remarks relating to their worship of Dr. Ambedkar, she alleged. “Suddenly, theyattacked us. Within five minutes, the village sarpanch, Amol Sathe, came with other caste Hindus andstarted beating us,” claimed Meera Wankhede, who received severe injuries on her hand. Police reachedthe spot within 10 minutes but according to the Dalits of Yerkad, they lathicharged Dalits instead of tryingto stop the caste Hindus. “Police even arrested 15 Dalit men on false charges of stealing a goddess’ornaments from a temple near the Ambedkar statue. They did not register our complaints,” allegedJagdish Bhandare. “After the Maha Shivratri incident, no autorickshaw would agree to take us to ourschool. We had to walk for more than three km to our school in Undri village,” said Shivani, a standardeight student. “Some of them [caste Hindus] wrote abusive words about us and Baba Saheb on the roadleading to our school.” However, caste Hindus and the police denied all these allegations. InspectorSantosh Tale said there was no “boycott” of Dalits . “There was a small incident and some politicalelements are trying to take advantage of the situation. We have arrested 15 people from the Dalit localityand 10 people from the caste Hindu locality for rioting over the October 12 incident,” Mr. Tale told TheHindu . Buldhana district’s Superintendent of Police Shamrao Dihgavkar said the situation in the villagewas peaceful after a “small incident”. “Ours is a peaceful village. It was a small incident but some politicalelements are trying to disrupt the peace here,” said Mangesh Sathe, brother of sarpanch Amol Sathe, acaste Hindu. Mr. Amol Sathe, who represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was on Monday arrestedunder the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989. He has since beenreleased but prohibited from entering the village, said the SP. Some Dalits have voiced their anxiety incontinuing to stay in the village. “Give us an alternative piece of land and we will shift out of this place.