Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 11.03.14
Eight held for ‘attacking’ Dalit wedding procession in Sabarkantha- The Indian Express
Dalit teen can’t pay to cheat in exam, immolates himself- The Indian Express
HC urged to transfer rape probe- The Times Of India
The Indian Express
Eight held for ‘attacking’ Dalit wedding procession in Sabarkantha
The Sabarkantha police have arrested eight persons for allegedly attacking a wedding procession of Dalits.
The upper caste community of the village was against the Dalit family following the tradition of riding horseback in the wedding ceremony.
The arrests were made on Saturday. According to the police, on March 6, Harshad Solanki, a resident of Tejpuri village in Himmatnagar taluka, Sabarkantha district, was returning with his bride after marriage, when the procession following him was attacked by people belonging to the upper caste. They pelted stones and attacked them with sharp weapons injuring at least two dozen people, including children and women.
Kodar Solanki, uncle of Harshad, lodged an FIR stating that upper caste residents of the village had threatened not to follow the tradition of riding horseback. Fearing a clash, the groom Harshad, who is a police constable posted in Himmatnagar, sought police protection for the occasion.
“We were apprehensive of this attack, but nothing happened on the day of wedding and we followed the tradition. But when we were getting back after the marriage, we were attacked by a group of 30 to 40 people.
We had followed the other route to enter our village. However, we couldn’t avoid the clash,” said Alpesh Solanki, cousin of the groom.
About 20 people from Dalit community sustained injuries. Three of them are said to be in critical condition.
Sabarkantha District Collector Banchhanidhi Pani told The Indian Express that the situation in the village is under control and the administration is taking care of the victims.
“We have assured them the expense of their treatment will be born by the district authority. Since Dalit family are apprehensive of losing their jobs in the aftermath of this incident, we have also assured them of giving jobs under MNREGA among others,” Pani said.
Tajpuri houses about 30 Dalit families who are farm labourers. They are dependent on upper caste community who possess most of the farm lands. According to Alpesh, the upper caste people would not give them any employment now and Dalits will be ostracised for taking out the procession and going to police to lodge the complaint.
The Indian Express
Dalit teen can’t pay to cheat in exam, immolates himself
A class 10 Dalit student, who had set himself on fire after being unable to write his board exams as he could not pay the amount allegedly demanded by his school principal to allow him to copy and cheat, died of burn injuries Monday.
Circle officer of Shikohabad in Firozabad district, Shyam Kant, said 17-year-old Akash, a resident of Katra Meera locality in Shikohabad police station area, poured kerosene on himself and set himself on fire in his house Sunday morning.
He ran out enveloped in flames before family members managed to douse the fire.
He, however, had sustained over 75 per cent burns and was rushed to the district hospital from where he was referred to the medical college in Agra and later to PGI in Etawah.
Shikohabad SHO Rajeev Yadav said Akash, the son of auto driver Praveen Kumar and Pushpa, who works as a housemaid, was depressed as he could not write his UP board exam on Saturday.
The boy’s relatives told the police that his school principal had allegedly demanded Rs 7,000 from each student appearing for the exam at his centre to be allowed to copy and cheat.
The SHO said Akash’s family told him they could manage to pay the principal only Rs 4,000, leading to an argument within the family.
Unable to cope, Akash took the extreme step, Kant said.
Firozabad district inspector of schools, Vidhi Narain, said he got an FIR lodged against the principal of the Ahabaran Singh Higher Secondary School, Vivek Yadav, for extortion, abetment of suicide and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Yadav is yet to be arrested.
Narain said Akash had written two papers but could not appear for the examSaturday.
The Times Of India
HC urged to transfer rape probe
MADURAI: The father of a minor girl who was gang-raped has filed a petition at the Madras high court seeking transfer of investigation to the CBCID. The petitioner belonging to a scheduled caste community said the probe by the all-women police station in Vadamadurai in Dindigul district has so far not yielded any result.
In his petition, V Arumugam, said they have not arrested any of the accused so far, though police had named five accused people in the case.
According to the petitioner, his daughter who had completed class 10 could not pursue higher education due to poverty. She was working in a private firm in Vedasanthur when she was kidnapped by one Praveen and his friends namely Maruthupandi, Kumaran, Sakthivel and Natrayan. After the incident, she fell into a coma, he said.
Police registered a rape case under the IPC and a few other cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST Act. After registering the FIR, no effective steps were taken by the police so far, even though representations were sent to the concerned officers last month, Arumugam said.
In these circumstances, if Vadamadurai police is allowed to continue the probe, there is a possibility of influencing the witnesses. Hence, it is necessary to change the investigation to the CBCID police, the petitioner said.
The petitioner has further prayed the court to give direction to the government to pay Rs.5 lakh compensation to the victim.
When the matter came up for admission, the court adjourned the matter.
News Monitor by Girish Pant
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/
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