Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 04.06.14
15-yr-old Dalit girl found hanging from tree in Sitapur- The Indian Express
13-year-old girl raped in Greater Noida- The Times Of India
Minor rape victim abducted in Meerut - The Times Of India
15 arrested for murder of three dalits- The Times Of India
PU students hold protest against dailt rapes in UP - The Times Of India
Dalit Movement for Beginners – The Indian Express
Until we recognise caste atrocities for what they are, they will continue unabated as in Badaun - The Times Of India
The Indian Express
15-yr-old Dalit girl found hanging from tree in Sitapur
A 15-year-old Dalit girl was found hanging from a tree at Benipur in Sitapur district Tuesday. Police claimed it to be suicide while the victim’s father, Ram Swaroop, a labourer, suspects murder.
Swaroop has filed an FIR against six Dalits, including one 38-year-old Ramesh, at Mishrikh police station in Sitapur. Other accused are Ramesh’s father-in-law Pyare Lal and his family members. Ramesh lives in Piswa under Mishrik police station.
Police said Ram Swaroop alleged that Ramesh, who is married and has no child, wanted to marry his daughter. SP, Sitapur, Tehsildar Singh, said Swaroop suspects that since he rejected the marriage proposal, the accused killed his daughter.
Station House Officer, Mishrikh police station, Ashok Kumar Pandey, said: “The autopsy report states that no injury was found on the body and the cause of death was asphyxia due to ante mortem hanging.”
The Times Of India
13-year-old girl raped in Greater Noida
allegedly gang-raped by three boys, two of them minors, at Badalpur in Greater Noida.
It was one of three rape or attempted rape cases reported in Greater Noida on Tuesday even as anger and protests against the rape and murder of two minor girls in Badaun barely a week ago swept the state. In the two other cases, a woman in Rabupura alleged she was raped by four men who held her in-laws hostage while another woman in Chanchli told the police three men barged into her house when she was alone and tried to rape her.
The Dalit girl was found in an unconscious state near a tubewell in the Badalpur's Girdharpur colony on Monday, police said. Badalpur happens to be the birthplace of BSP chief Mayawati.
The Class VII student had left home for the market around 6pm but did not return. "Her family started looking for her and found her near the tubewell around 10pm," said Brijesh Kumar Singh, SP, Greater Noida. "She was rushed to a hospital, where she told her family that three boys had raped her," Singh added. All three boys named by the girl have been apprehended. "Two of the accused are 14 and the third is a 19-year-old boy.
While the minors were produced in a juvenile court and have been remanded to a home, the other accused has been sent to jail," Singh said.
The girl was taken for medical tests. "Preliminary tests detected no external or internal injuries. We have recommended secondary tests," the SP added.
In Rabupura, the survivor said she was attacked by four men from her village after they had a fight with her husband on June 1. She said her husband was arrested but the four men weren't. That night, they attacked her in her house after locking her father-in-law and brother-in-law in a room, she alleged. Police said the woman's family had lodged a police complaint but did not mention rape. "However, she has been sent for a medical examination. We will soon make arrests," he added.
In Chanchli, three men who tried to rape a woman escaped after she raised an alarm but set fire to the house before, according to the police complaint. No arrests have been made yet.
The Times Of India
Minor rape victim abducted in Meerut
C. K. Chandramohan
The girl’s family had sought police protection as the accused had not been arrested
Reports of rapes continued from western Uttar Pradesh. On Sunday, a minor, who had been gang-raped, was kidnapped outside her home in Ganga Nagar Colony near Meerut.
The Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the U.P. government on the Ganga Nagar case. BJP MP from Baghpat, Satyapal Singh spoke to the Superintendent of Police and sought the immediate arrest of culprits.
Samajwadi Party leader and member of the U.P. SC/ST Commission Kiran Yadavon Monday accused the police of having neglected the pleas of the Ganga Nagar Colony minor’s family for nearly two months. “I had taken the victim to the SSP office on Saturday seeking protection. He assured us of action and the second accused was arrested the same evening but the girl vanished on Sunday morning … how?” Ms Yadav askedCiting helplessness of rape victims in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, chairperson of Meerut Childline, Anita Rana, who had been counselling the Ganga Nagar Colony victim, urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu action.
There was despair and anger at the Ganga Nagar victim’s residence. The family wanted to know why the police were sheltering criminals though protection had been sought for over two months now when the victim said she could identify all rapists.
The girl’s father said that on April 21, unidentified car-borne persons tried to run her down as she on her way to her aunt’s house. The girl jumped aside but suffered a fractured leg as the tyres ran over her.
The Times Of India
15 arrested for murder of three dalits
MADURAI: Fifteen people, including a woman, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the murder of three dalits in Udapankulam village, near Sankarankoil, in Tirunelveli district. A large posse of armed police personnel has been deployed in the village for the third consecutive day to prevent untoward incidents.
Police said three men were killed to avenge the arrest of two people last month.
The murders that have created a tense situation in the village occurred last Sunday. The incident happened following the wedding of one Soundarajan's daughter.
All the murdered were Soundarajan's relatives who had come fromCoimbatore to attend the wedding. The deceased relatives are Murugan (40), his brother Kaliraj (45) and Venugopal (46). A gang attacked the three men with deadly weapons about a kilometer from the village while they were returning. They sustained serious injuries in the attack and died on the spot.
Police sources said the injuries on the victims pointed to the work ofprofessional killers. A special team, which was constituted to nab the killers, has so far arrested 15 people in connection with the murder. A few more are expected to be arrested, they added. Tirunelveli SP Narendra Nair and Sankarankoil inspector Kalivaradhan had rushed to spot along with a police contingent.
The arrested are S Kannan (46); V Balamurugan (47); A Balasubramanian (46); Jaya (36) who is the wife of Balasubramanian; S Jayaraman (38); G Murugan (34); M Selvaraj (43); P Karuppasamy (23); K Ramesh (22); V Karuppasamy (54); K Ganeshamoorthy (30); Vairamuthu (45); Saravanan (25); R Subburaj (28); and A Mariraj (49). They were produced before the judicial magistrate in Tenkasi and lodged in prison.
During initial probe police found that two men -- Marikutty (26) and Mariraj (25) -- were arrested last month after Soundarajan lodged a complaint with the Thiruvengadam police following a brawl at a local liquor shop three months ago. Irked by this, Marikutty and Mariraj attacked Soundarajan with a sickle on May 28. They were arrested and cases were filed against them under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Currently, a large armed police force led by Virudhunagar ADSP Stephen Jesudas is in the village which looks deserted. DSPs of Sankarankoil, Alangkulam and Puliamkulam are also monitoring the situation.
The Times Of India
PU students hold protest against dailt rapes in UP
TNN | Jun 4, 2014, 06.53 AM IST
CHANDIGARH: Activists of Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) on Tuesdayheld a candlelight march in Panjab University campus to protest against the Badaun gangrape of two teenaged Dalit girls.
Holding placards and candles, the PU students marched from the Student Centre to Sector 14 market to mark their protest against the UP government's failure to ensure Dalit rights.
"The Akhilesh Yadav led government has failed at all the fronts to protect its citizens' basic rights. Proper sections of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act 1989 should be invoked in the FIR and speedy trial of the case should be done according to the rules of the Act," ASA president Gurdeep Singh said. The students also demanded trial of police officials under Section 4 of the Act.
"UP state should be declared atrocity-prone state as a large number of atrocities are taking place in the state without any check. Dalits should be provided protection against such victimization," ASA activists demanded.
Holding placards and candles, the PU students marched from the Student Centre to Sector 14 market to mark their protest against the UP government's failure to ensure Dalit rights.
"The Akhilesh Yadav led government has failed at all the fronts to protect its citizens' basic rights. Proper sections of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act 1989 should be invoked in the FIR and speedy trial of the case should be done according to the rules of the Act," ASA president Gurdeep Singh said. The students also demanded trial of police officials under Section 4 of the Act.
"UP state should be declared atrocity-prone state as a large number of atrocities are taking place in the state without any check. Dalits should be provided protection against such victimization," ASA activists demanded.
The Indian Express
Dalit Movement for Beginners
By Chetana Divya Vasudev
BANGALORE: Did you know that in some communities, the backs of goddesses are worshipped?
"Most of these goddesses are upper caste women killed by their own community because they had relationships with lower caste men or ate non-vegetarian food. Their backs — and in some cases, even their buttocks — are worshipped because when they tired of the chase and were killed, the last thing the pursuers saw was their rear portion," said Kannada writer Dr Siddalingiah at National Law School of India University, adding that they became goddesses because people, out of fear that they would avenge their deaths, began to worship them. The Kannada poet with Dalit roots interacted with students from the National Law School of India University and William and Mary College (Williamsburg, Virginia).
About 40 under-grad students from the college in the US had come down for a visit as part of a summer collaborative initiative by the two educational institutions.
The sessions, including one with development journalist P Sainath and another Dalit writer Devanur Mahadeva, introduced the students to the caste system, the concept of untouchables and manual scavenging.
The discussion that ensued threw up questions about job reservations, the history of the Dalit movement, the role of Dalit literature, and the connection between caste and culture.
Dr S Japhet, head of the department of the Study of Social Exclusion, attached to NLSUI, who was instrumental in organising the seminar, also pitched in with responses.
Maisie, a history and environmental policy student asked, “With Modi in power, what do you think will be the present government’s take on reservations?”
“It’s just a few days old, so it’s too early to comment,” said Siddalingaiah.
Marketing and psychology student Alicia Howard’s query was whether Siddaligiah’s poetry has contributed in shaping policies. His reply, “Whatever I wrote in my poetry, I spoke in prose in the State Legislative Council,” signaled a round of appreciative laughter and applause. He went on to add that his efforts had led to the stopping 15 cruel customs against one community of untouchables. “One practice, called ajaru, requires them to go, sit outside an unwell upper caste person’s house, and eat food mixed with the patient’s hair and nails,” he said to a rapt but shocked audience. “I also proposed that there should be reservation in schools for children of inter-caste marriages.”
It took a while for the two professors to abate the students’ curiosity on caste issues. Then came questions on the former Kannada professor’s experiences.
“Your father burnt your first book of poems. Later, he or your other family members come around?” asked Sam Gardner, pursuing religious studies and psychology.
The founder of Dalit Sangharsha Samiti just chose to respond with, “He was illiterate, and so was the rest of my family. They gradually accepted my writing. Their reactions made me realise I should study and become a respectable person.”
“Yes, for someone like me from the US, to whom this is all very new, I found the session informative,” Sam later told City Express later. “When he (Siddalingiah) speaks or writes, you understand how he struggled in a Dalit colony without letting go of his culture. His writing shows us how long his path has been,” added a first year international relations student Alison Cohan.
The Times Of India
Until we recognise caste atrocities for what they are, they will continue unabated as in Badaun
Indrajit Hazra | Jun 4, 2014, 12.08 AM IST
By now, there are various versions of the same village scene. A crowd is gathered around a tree. The women, with their heads covered with ghunghats that have startlingly bright colours are all sitting on the ground together, away from the men who stand around the tree as well as behind the women.
Most of the onlookers are looking up, as if some sort of street theatre with a health awareness message is underway. Some photographs capture the faces sharply. A man in a red shirt is looking into his mobile phone; an elderly woman with cotton-white wavy hair almost resting against the tree trunk is telling a younger group something; a young boy in long shorts and a checkered shirt is looking at the women as if trying to read their minds. A short man in a white shirt and grey trousers with his hands on his hips looks aghast, while another man with a brownish cloth across his shoulders looks dejected.
Or angry. From this angle, it's hard to tell.
There are some — a young girl in a mustard yellow dress, a boy in a red-and-black full-sleeved shirt and brown trousers, a slightly burly man in a white shirt — who are looking elsewhere. They are looking at us , viewers who have descended on their village via the medium of pictures and news reports. They see us literally through the lens of the photographer-journalists.
Whichever photo you look at, it is a terribly ordinary rustic scene, the kind you mentally conjure up when thinking of one of those special gatherings that break the monotony of an Indian village life tableau. That is, until your gaze returns to what it came here at the beginning for: two bodies suspended from two sturdy branches of a mango tree.
Both figures are of slim girls with thin arms by their sides, their heads bent as if being berated by some angry grown-ups for slinking off to watch a movie on their own. One of the girls with her feet closer to the ground is wearing a pretty red kurta with white designs and blue loose trousers. The other, higher by some two feet and hanging from the branch radially opposite, is in a green salwar-kameez with white-and-yellow stitchwork. Both have bare feet.
While we take in the contents of these photographs — of the two teenage girls who were raped and then left hanging from a tree last week in Katra Shadat Ganj village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district — we also quietly take in a different set of information: so these are dalits in a UP village in 2014 India. Our brain searches and fails to find any distinguishing feature to mark it as a gathering of dalits. So this is how dalits look like, we tell ourselves.
As a pointless, urbane debate goes on about whether such horrifying images should be put out for general consumption, the fact that caste is an indelible marker for game-hunters continues to elude people who don't live under its thrall. What the display in Badaun underlines is caste not just as demographic pie charts or identifiable target groups for social welfare programmes, but also as an all-too-visible bar code for higher castes in vast swathes of our sovereign socialist secular democratic republic to identify prey. Whether we like it or not, this dehumanising tradition thrives in states like Samajwadi Party-ruled UP under active
encouragement.
Sexual violence against women is, of course, about inflicting power. But the same way the right motive needs to be ascertained to solve a murder, the prime motive behind the gang rape and murder of the two girls in Badaun needs to be identified and then recognized. The girls were hung up and displayed because they were dalits. The five alleged perpetrators from the Yadav community saw raping and killing their dalit victims as their adhikar, a right.
Unabated cases of violence against dalits — sexual or otherwise, reported, under-reported or unreported — have no real disincentive as they are clubbed, if not in law then in practice, with general acts of violence. The trophy rape and murder in Badaun, and those many other horrific acts of violence against dalits that precede and will follow it, may share many characteristics with equally horrific rape-murders that take place across the nation. But Badaun and countless other cases where dalits are chosen as victims because they are dalits are part of one giant, ongoing serial-killing spree where Manu-given rights have been joined with political protection.
Sitting pretty in urban, deracinated India where 'being casteist' means being vaguely outdated and a bit clannish as if caste was simply about some silly club rules, it is impossible to perceive what the five rapist-murderers sought to achieve by stringing up their two victims.
What they surely did see is something that we have conditioned ourselves to not see: that dalits are not 'like any other village folk'. So instead of flinching, keep looking for clues to how dalits are seen by far too many 'other village folks' in those upsetting photographs until you are horrified enough to do something about it.
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/
..............................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of “Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC”)
Pl visit on FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/
..............................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.
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