Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 09.03.14
Inspector Harassed and Assaulted Me, Says Dalit- The New Indian Express
Review implementation of SC/ST Act, demand Dalits- The Hindu
Khabar Lahariya: Making rural media a force for change - The Free Press Journal
Note : Please find attachment for HINDI DMW ( PDF)
The New Indian Express
Inspector Harassed and Assaulted Me, Says Dalit
Residents of Vaiyur village, led by Aadhi Tamizhar Peravai, on Saturdaygheraoed the T Kallupatti police station, protesting the alleged harrassment and assault of a dalit worker by an inspector on Friday.
Sources said that Palpandi, son of Alagiri from Vaiyur, is a sanitary worker. On Friday, both his daughters had gone to the Vaiyur Panchayat Union primary school, but the younger one, Mahalakshmi did not return home.
Later, Palpandi came to know that she had not attended school that day.
Palpandi searched for the girl till evening but she was not found. So, he, along with the headmaster of the school and panchayat union office-bearers went to T Kallupatti police station to lodge a missing complaint.
While they were there, locals spotted the girl sleeping behind Palpandi’s house. When the news reached the police station, inspector Paathamuthu allegedly accused Palpandi of trying to lodge a false complaint.
“Mahalakshimi did not go to school. Fearing reprimand by her parents, she hid at a place behind the house, which was covered with bushes,” said a panchayat union office-bearer.
“He (the inspector) asked me, which caste did I belong to? When I told him that I belonged to a scheduled caste, he started abusing me, using my caste name. The officer even slapped me on the face and kicked my back,” claimed Palpandi, who sustained internal injuries.
Trouble did not end for Palpandi as a high-ranking police officer threatened him not to make a furore over the issue at the Tirumangalam government hospital, where the former was taken for treatment.
“It is a shame that a police officer, who is supposed to protect the common man, behaved in this manner. That too inside the police station,” said R Selvan, Suburban District Secretary, ATP, who demanded that a case under the SC/ST (POA) Act be registered against the inspector. Reacting to the issue, DSP (Peraiyur range) Balasubramanian said, as a police officer, Paathamuthu was aware of the laws. So, chances of him abusing or assaulting Palpandi were less. Nevertheless, the DSP has assured of further investigation into the matter.
The Hindu
Review implementation of SC/ST Act, demand Dalits
http://www.thehindu.com/
‘Amend law to include provision for rights of victims and witnesses’
Dalit groups in Rajasthan have demanded deletion of expressions such as “intent,” “on the ground” and “wilful” from various sections of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, saying they give leeway to the police and judiciary to dilute cases of atrocities through “subjective or arbitrary interpretations” of the law.
Releasing a status report on the Act’s implementation in the State here over the week-end, Dalit activists said a new chapter should be added to the statute to deal with the rights of victims and witnesses, thereby explicitly granting various citizen rights to them in atrocity cases.
Besides, the Act should be amended to bring in all types of negligence by public servants at various stages in their handling of atrocity cases and punishment for offences under the law enhanced to bring it on par with the Indian Penal Code.
“Punishment for crimes against Dalits must be commensurate with the nature and gravity of the offences [so as] to ensure its deterrent effect,” said Centre for Dalit Rights patron P. L. Mimroth. The other group was the National Dalit Movement for Justice.
In their major findings and observations in the report, the Dalit groups pointed out that Rajasthan occupied second position in the top 10 atrocity-prone States in the country, with an increasing rate of 7.4 per cent.
The atrocity cases are often registered after a delay or not registered at all, investigation is kept pending for long, charge-sheet is not filed on time and cases are closed under the influence of dominant caste people or under political pressure. As a result, the acquittal rate is very high and the cases with conviction are few and far between.
The report cited 199 sample cases, among which 79 were closed as “fake” by the police. Only two convictions were ordered by the court, while acquittal was awarded in 13 cases and the rest were either pending in the court or were in the process of compromise at a crucial stage.
Dalit activists Satish Kumar, V. A. Ramesh Nathan and Rahul Singh also demanded appointment of a high-level committee to review the implementation of the SC/ST (PoA) Act, assess the achievement of its objectives and take appropriate and speedy action for strengthening the law for its effective implementation.
The Free Press Journal
Khabar Lahariya: Making rural media a force for change
One major problem the women reporters faced during news gathering was being continuously mocked at by the people, writes Rupesh Dutta.
These women reporters from the rural parts of UP and Bihar have broken every social stereotype to set an example for other women in the villages and rural towns and enthused others to join the profession, which even now in most parts of rural India is not considered to be a woman’s profession.
It was never easy for Meera Jato, 42, to confront her in-laws’ taunts, deal with household hassles and start the country’s first rural language weekly “Khabar Lahariya” (News Wave) run only by women. It has in its short existence carved out a clear niche for itself in the ever-expanding media space in India.
Being tied up in household chores and remaining confined to the four walls of the house prevented Jato and Kavita, both Dalit women from Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand district, from pursuing their interest in writing. But they stuck on resolutely.
Like them, a few others from the same region collectively took a decision to start the rural language weekly in Hindi’s Bundheli dialect and now in Bhojpuri, Hindustani, Bajjika and Awadhi languages. Khabar Lahariya, started in 2002, has now almost become the backbone of the people of the rural areas in Bundelkhand and Awadh – extremely backward and impoverished areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the country’s two most populous and yet socially backward states.
The weekly, initially started by seven women with a limited number of copies, now boasts of 40 women journalists, a print run of 10,000, and 80,000 readers. The eight-page weekly is distributed in all the Hindi-speaking states. The onus of editing, publishing and marketing is on the women journalists of Khabar Lahariya.
Khabar Lahariya has also launched its web site – wwwkhabarlahariya.org.in. “It has given us a new identity. I never thought the initiative taken by a few deprived women like myself would take us to such heights,” Jato, who hails from Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh and is chief editor of the weekly, told IANS.
“It’s a matter of great pride that when we meet political leaders and police officers, they recognise us,” said Jato, adding that because of such recognition, even her in-laws don’t argue with her or demand she quit the profession.
From reporting on local issues such as education in villages, water condition in tubewells, veterinary issues and other informative and useful content, the weekly also covers the crime incidents in nearby towns.
These women reporters from the rural parts of UP and Bihar have broken every social stereotype to set an example for other women in the villages and rural towns and enthused others to join the profession, which even now in most parts of rural India is not considered to be a woman’s profession.
One major problem the women reporters faced during news gathering was being continuously mocked at by the people. “Pursuing journalism in rural India is completely different from the big cities. We were often scoffed at by people while asking questions and also mocked at,” Shanti, senior reporter and the founding member of the weekly, told IANS.
The women journalists were in the capital for the launch of the web site. Many a times, the women journalists had to travel as far as 10 km for news reporting. Khabar Lahariya has won several awards, including Laadli Media Award in December 2012 and the Chameli Devi Jain and UNESCO awards.
“In the male dominated society in the villages, women can’t be seen showing power or domination. In towns and cities one does not face such problems. In villages one has to contend with very oppressive forces,” Kavita, executive editor of Khabar Lahariya in Banda in Uttar Pradesh, told IANS.
“If setting up a network and reporting in small towns require hard work, then confronting a patriarchal society that questions your ability and credibility at every step is even harder,” Kavita said.
Despite all the difficulties, the women journalists are determined to pursue the profession and remove every iota of stigma that still remains in the minds of the people.
News Monitor by Girish Pant
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
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