DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

Pradesh Human Rights Commission has taken note of the family’s plight in Betul, and issued notices tothe district collector and superintendent of police. “They have been asked to reply within a week,” said arights official. (Hindustan Times 24/1/13)Dalit youths walk from Mysore to Delhi to create awareness (2)MYSORE: It's a long walk for a cause. Four youths from Ashokpuram and office-bearers of the NalavadiKrishnaraja Wadiyar Association set off on Saturday on a walk to New Delhi. These dalits want to drawthe attention of authorities, politicians and people across the country to the increasing number ofatrocities on their community. As per the schedule, they'll walk over 2,400km in 50 days to reach NewDelhi by mid-March. There, they plan to meet the Prime Minister and President and submit amemorandum to them. They hope to walk at least 50km every day. "Initially, we'll walk about 30-40kmand later step up the pace and cover at least 50km daily which is not impossible for us," they said.They've been practising to walk long distances for the past year. "Our preparations began a year ago andall four of us walked in the morning and evening for long distances," C Chidambara, associationpresident, said. Along with Chidambara, the others walking to Delhi are Muralidasa, M Siddaiah and BPratap. Chidambara added, "We don't want politicians to take unnecessary advantage of the walk andthat's why we kept it a closely guarded secret." They mobilized money for the walk -- each person needsat least Rs 15,000 towards food and other expenses. Chidambara said they're also sure their walk isenough to put an end to atrocities. "Or aim is to create awareness by going to slums and dalit colonies enroute to Delhi," he said, adding that one cannot imagine how many cases of atrocities go unreported. InMysore Rural itself, at least 50 incidents of atrocities go unnoticed every year. "Everybody has failed toprotect dalits" he said. (Times of India 28/1/13)Five years after kin murder, Dalit family attacked again, for pursuing justice (2)MUMBAI: The ghosts of the past continue to haunt the Ghadges, a Dalit family, of Kulakajai village inMaharashtra’s Satara district. They are still threatened and beaten up by caste Hindus. The police haverefused to invoke the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act againstthe accused, claiming that the victims did not ask for it. On January 22, as part of the family tradition,newly wed Vaibhav Diwakar Ghadge, a postgraduate from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS),and his wife Shalini (name changed), an M.Com student, went to the Sitamai temple, three km from theirvillage in Man tehsil. Three persons on a motorbike followed them to the temple. One of them wasNavnath Kapse, an accused in the case of murder of Vaibhav’s uncle Madhukar and nephew of the localCongress MLA, Jaykumar Gore. Vaibhav is the complainant and only eyewitness in the case. (On April26, 2007, Madhukar was brutally murdered by 12 caste Hindu villagers for digging a well on his field.Three years ago, the lower court at Satara acquitted all the accused for lack of evidence. In 2010, theBombay High Court admitted the appeal of the Ghadge family and is expected to give its ruling soon.)Navnath and two other unidentified persons attacked the couple at an isolated spot near the temple. Atfirst, Vaibhav was hit with a stone on the head. He fell down unconscious. The one who was holdingShalini demanded that she hand over her jewels and threatened to kill Vaibhav, if she refused. Afterrobbing them, the assailants threw Vaibhav and his wife into a valley, and left them for dead. After sometime, Shalini climbed up the hill and approached the nearby hamlet. She rescued her husband with thehelp of the villagers. Both are being treated at the Yashwant Neurological and Trauma Centre at Sataraand said to be out of danger. The incident occurred in the home district of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavanand in the constituency of the Congress MLA.“We are a joint family. After the murder of my father, ourfamily didn’t bow to [the pressure from] the caste Hindus… We continued tilling our land. Though we areDalits, ours is the most educated family in the village. All my cousins are postgraduates. We consistentlypursued our fight for justice, and this does not seem to have gone down well with these people. Theywant us to withdraw that [murder] case,” said Tushar Ghadge, son of Madhukar and cousin of Vaibhav,who is also a postgraduate from the TISS. Meanwhile, the police have arrested Navnath on robbery