Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 31.03.14
‘Police not acting on domestic harassment complaints by Dalits’- The Hindu
Four Arrested for Suspected Honour Killing- The New Indian Express
Two minors held for gang-raping minor in city- Odisha Sun Times
dna edit: Stinker for the political class- DNA
75,000 SC/ST Posts Lying Vacant Says Dalit Leader- The New Indian Express
Note: Please find attachment for HINDI DMW (PDF)
The Hindu
‘Police not acting on domestic harassment complaints by Dalits’
Dalit activists complained of police laxity in handling cases of domestic harassment and violence at the monthly Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe grievance meet held at the City Police Commissioner’s office here on Sunday.
At least six cases of harassment of women, apart from two cases of violence against Dalits, were heard at the meet. Narrating an incident, Dalit leader S.P. Anand said a woman lodged a complaint on March 10 with the Mangalore South (Pandeshwar) police station that her husband Ganesh — allegedly an accused in a few murder cases — had been mentally and physically harassing her.
Mr. Anand and the woman alleged that the police only called him to the station, questioned him about it which he denied, and released him with no consequence. “The torture had increased after that. When we go to the police station, the police officials drive us out asking us not to irritate them,” said the woman, who had arrived with her two school-going children.
Admitting that the police had mishandled the situation, K.V. Jagadish, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), said the husband would be booked under Section 498A – domestic harassment – and sent to judicial custody. Similarly, the activist pointed out that there was no action on the complaints by two women in Kaprigudde near Attavar who were being harassed by relatives over land; and, the inactivity of the Mangalore Rural Station in filing a case against a Gulbarga-native husband who harassed his wife and then absconded; or, the lack of action against a husband in Kadandale in Moodbidri who though has confessed to assaulting his wife, the police had not booked a case.
Mangalore City Commissioner R. Hitendra promised probe into the cases mentioned.
The New Indian Express
Four Arrested for Suspected Honour Killing
Police have arrested four caste Hindus on Sunday for alleged honour killing. The four of a family had murdered a 23-year old woman and buried her in an isolated place near Vaigai riverbed. However, the incident came to light after her husband filed a habeas corpus petition with the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court.
According to the police, Vaidehi, daughter of Rajagopal from Ramanathapuram was pursing her post graduation in a private college in Madurai when she fell in love with Suresh Kumar (29) from Thiruppalai. The girl belonged to a caste Hindu and the boy to Dalit caste. Since both the families were aware of their relationship and opposed it, the couple decided to elope.
In March 2013, the couple tied the knot in Madurai and settled down in Kerala. Five months after the marriage, the girl conceived and informed her mother Venkateshwari about it, hoping her family would agree to their marriage. The mother pretended to be happy and convinced the girl to come to Theni for a temple festival on March 16, 2014.
Trusting her mother, Vaidehi came for the temple festival and was murdered in her house by the people arranged by her mother, younger brother and her uncles.
Suresh, who couldn’t reach his wife over the phone, filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court who directed the Kenikarai police to investigate into the case.
Investigations, made by inspector Krishnamoorthy, revealed that the girl was murdered to save the family’s honour and the police arrested four people including Venkateshwari, mother, Vimalraj (brother), Janakiraman and Bagyaraj (uncles of the girl).
Janakiraman and Vimalraj showed the police the place where the girl was buried and also admitted they had hired people from Valantharavai village to commit the crime.
The police who dug up the body had brought the doctors from the government hospital to the spot to conduct an autopsy.
The police are on the lookout for the girl’s uncle Alagasami, Darma, Rabindran and an unidentified person who were hired to kill the girl.
Odisha Sun Times
Two minors held for gang-raping minor in city
Bhubaneswar, Mar 30:
Commissionerate Police on Sunday nabbed two minors for allegedly raping a minor Dalit girl at Dumduma under Khandagiri police limits here.
The matter came to light yesterday night after the girl’s parent lodged a complaint with the Mahila police station here. Acting on the complaint, police nabbed the two minors – aged 14 and 17 years – and forwarded them to the Juvenile Justice Board in Khurda today.
In their complaint, the girl’s parent had alleged that the two boys of the same locality lured her with chocolates a week ago and took her to an isolated place where they gang-raped the girl and threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone.
Family members of the girl, after coming to know about the incident, first filed a complaint with Khandagiri police station, which sat over the complaint for a few days before referring the case to the Mahila police station yesterday.
Mahila police, after conducting a medical test on the victim, nabbed the duo from Dumduma area and carried another medical test on the accused before sending them to the juvenile court.
DNA
dna edit: Stinker for the political class
The SC directive asking the Centre and states to end manual scavenging and offer compensation to the workers might finally restore dignity to three lakh Dalits
In spite of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, passed in September last year, the Supreme Court had to step in to put an end to the degrading vocation of manual scavenging. Its directives to the Centre and states to strictly implement the Act are scathing reminders of how little the rest of India cares about those who carry out the dirtiest of jobs at grave personal risk. Without them, our ‘civilised’ world would have crumbled long back.
According to government estimates, there are about three lakh Dalits, mostly women, engaged in the medieval practice of clearing excreta from dry latrines — declared illegal since 1993 — and cleaning drains.
The impact of the 1993 law can be gauged from the 2011 Census report which mentions the existence of 7,94,390 such toilets in the country.
Like most meaningful legislations, the 2013 Act too remains only on paper. The Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS), which offers vocational training, cash subsidy and loan, is slow to deliver and prone to corruption, with middle men being the prime beneficiaries of the cash component of the scheme. The SC’s March 27 order for rehabilitation, which also includes providing education and residential plots or houses will make a significant difference in the lives of valmikis.
The other critical issue is the hazardous nature of the vocation. Asphyxiation is common even as the anti-manual scavenging act makes protective gear mandatory for a person entering the underground tunnels.
The death of 30 workers in Tamil Nadu since February 2012 points to grave laxity in safety measures. In such a milieu, the apex court’s decision to award Rs10 lakh compensation for each sewer death occurring due to lack of safety gear is only human. It will now make negligent waste management companies, employing people on a temporary basis, value human lives. The court order doesn’t spare the Railways, the biggest employer for such jobs, either, as the latter is now being forced to look for suitable alternatives for its workforce.
The failure to end manual scavenging points to an even bigger failure in tackling India’s toilet problems. For a country aspiring to be a world leader and an economic giant, its 640 million people defecate in the open, producing 73,000 tonnes of waste every day. The utter disregard for sanitation results in 768,000 deaths every year and a loss of US $54 billion due to various factors such as medical bills and missed work. After all these years, India’s toilet revolution is still a pipe dream.
However, at the root of it all is society’s criminal indifference to its own people. That a fellow human being, a Dalit, has to bear the waste of a privileged person for livelihood is a violation of the human spirit. It negates the cardinal principles of equality and the dignity of labour. Right from the days of Gandhi’s Harijan movement, scavenging has been publicly denounced — even Manmohan Singh has called it “one of the darkest blots on India’s development process”. Yet it has continued, right under our nose, and much to our relief, because it has spared us the ignominy of getting our own hands dirty. We have conveniently dumped the responsibility on the underprivileged who for generations have been subjected to such humiliation.
The New Indian Express
75,000 SC/ST Posts Lying Vacant Says Dalit Leader
Around 75,000 posts allotted for SCs and STs are not filled up and if priority is given to filling up the posts, the situation of the Dalits will improve. Apart from that a lot of people lose their lives falling victim to numerous diseases a and a health scheme better than Aarogyasri is needed, State Dalit Sena president demanded JB Raju has said.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Future of Dalits in Telangana’ organised by Telangana State Ambedkar Yuvajana Sangham here on Sunday, he said old methods of governance may be adopted by the new chief minister which would not benefit Dalits.
“To avoid the situation, we should protest democratically to reclaim our rights,” he said.
Avula Balnadham, founder-president of State Malasanghala Ikyavedika, said that the quota for Dalits should increase. “Many Dalits do not even have half an acre of land. Five acres of fertile land should be allotted to them,” he demanded.
Recalling the promise made by TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao that he would choose a Dalit as the first chief minister of telangana, Balnadham said, “We were filled with joy and encouragement after listening to this and I request him to keep his word.”
Kalvakuntla Kavitha, president of Telangana Jagruthi, promised to strive for filling of the 75,000 vacant posts reserved for SCs and STs. Responding to the other demands, she said, “The TRS’ poll manifesto, which might be released on Monday, will provide clarity on various issues. We will try to include the demands in the manifesto and, if necessary, we will delay its release.”
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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