From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 9:28 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 31.03.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 31.03.10
Court concludes hearing in Laxmanpur carnage case - PTI
http://www.ptinews.com/news/590206_Court-concludes-hearing-in-Laxmanpur-carnage-case
JNU to debate faculty reservation today - Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/JNU-to-debate-faculty-reservation-today/597890/
Mangalore: AIR - Dalit employees complain of harassment - Mangalorean Times
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=174963
Dalit organisations stage protest - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033152240300.htm
UK bill links caste to race, India red-faced - Times Of India
5 get death, one life in Haryana honour killing case - Zee News
http://www.zeenews.com/news615195.html
PTI
Court concludes hearing in Laxmanpur carnage case
http://www.ptinews.com/news/590206_Court-concludes-hearing-in-Laxmanpur-carnage-case
STAFF WRITER 18:28 HRS IST
Patna, Mar 31 (PTI) A local court today concluded the hearing of the Laxmanpur bath carnage case in Bihar's Jehanabad district in which 58 Dalits were gunned down by members of Ranvir Sena 13 years ago.
Additional District judge Vijay Prakash Mishra fixed April 7 for pronouncing the verdict.
Charges were framed in the case, probed by the Bihar police, against 46 Ranvir Sena men, a private militia of landlords, on December 23, 2008 and altogether 91 of the 152 witnesses deposed before the court.
The case was transferred to Patna from Jehanabad following a High Court order in October, 1999.
Fifty-eight Dalits were mowed down by Ranvir Sena members at Laxmanpur bath on December 1, 1997
Indian Express
JNU to debate faculty reservation today
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/JNU-to-debate-faculty-reservation-today/597890/
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2010 at 0052 hrs New Delhi:
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has rescheduled a crucial meeting of its Academic Council to facilitate the presence of a 'key' faculty member.
The council will meet on Wednesday now — it was earlier scheduled to meet on April 3 — to discuss whether SC/ST reservation should be extended to associate professor and professor levels. On Monday, the members were informed that the meeting had been rescheduled due to "unavoidable circumstances". Wednesday's meeting will be a continuation of the adjourned meeting on March 18.
Officials said Aditya Mukherjee, professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, is leaving the country on Wednesday and would have missed the council meeting of April 3.
Yes, I am leaving for France on Wednesday night and would not have been able to attend the meeting if it took place on Saturday. The rescheduling helps me to present my case but I am not aware of the reason for the change in dates," Mukherjee said.
Mukherjee, a renowned professor of Contemporary Indian History, has emerged as the main campaigner against reservations in JNU. He chaired the committee that formulated a controversial procedure for admission to JNU through OBC reservation.
The committee's recommendations were overlooked in the March 18 meeting after a sustained protest by the JNU community.
Vice-Chancellor B B Bhattcharya said: "There are three holidays that come in between. We thought it would be better to have the meeting earlier than to cause inconvenience."
I have not heard of an Academic Council meeting being rescheduled. The notification came at the eleventh hour, which is surprising," a senior JNU faculty member said.
Mangalorean Times
Mangalore: AIR - Dalit employees complain of harassment
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=174963
MANGALORE MARCH 31: In the past 10 years, seven persons from the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes have left the Mangalore All India Radio station because of alleged harassment by a group of employees.
Making this allegation, the national general secretary of the All India Akashvani and Doordarshan SC/ST Employees' Welfare Association, O.P Gautham, said, The Mangalore AIR is a hub for the worst kind of casteism and prejudice.
Although none of the seven persons wanted to lodge formal complaints, they all said that they were leaving because they could not bear the daily mental torture and harassment, he said.
Background
Mr. Gautham spoke to The Hindu over telephone from New Delhi on Monday about the case of Sudhakar (35), a Dalit transmission executive of the radio station. He said, Mr. Sudhakar was allegedly stripped, beaten and humiliated by the Mangalore East police on January 25 and detained for the entire day in connection with his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of Rs. 5,000.
The case came to light when Mr. Sudhakar complained to Superintendent of Police A.S. Rao during the monthly SC/ST grievance meeting held here on March 28.
Mr. Sudhakar said that he had been fixed in the misappropriation case and that a group of employees at the station, which hates people from SC/ST communities, connived with the police in this incident. This conspiracy had been hatched by some employees to take revenge against him for a complaint filed by him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2008.
Grievance meeting
Mr. Rao reprimanded the Kadri police during the grievance meeting, and said that even if the allegation was not true, he saw no need for such extreme action in such a petty case. He even ordered a departmental inquiry into the incident.
Speaking to The Hindu from Bangalore, Banandur Kempaiah, Executive Producer at Doordarshan, said he too faced harassment when he was in Mangalore as Station Director in 2000.
On the condition of anonymity, another former employee who sought a transfer in 2009 because of alleged caste-based harassment, said that several tactics were used by caste Hindu and non-Dalit employees to unsettle SCs/STs. They rate us as substandard and often say that we got the jobs because of reservation, this employee said.
Mr. Gautham, Mr. Kempaiah, Mr. Sudhakar as well as the former employee referred to above named the same set of people as those who had harassed them, while speaking separately to The Hindu.
The present station head of AIR, Mangalore, could not be contacted.
The Hindu
Dalit organisations stage protest
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033152240300.htm
Staff Correspondent
HUBLI: Members of various Dalit organisations blocked traffic for more than half an hour and staged a dharna in Hubli on Monday in protest against the alleged defilement of a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Bangalore.
A dharna was staged in Dharwad in protest against the State Government's failure to check exploitation of Dalits and minorities.
In Hubli, the protestors staged the dharna near Ambedkar's statue near the Head Post Office and blocked the road for more than half an hour. They raised slogans against the Government for its failure to check exploitation of Dalits and minorities.
They said the desecration of the statue of Ambedkar at Nanjappa Circle in Shantinagar of Bangalore seemed to be a deliberate political act, as the elections to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike Council were held on Sunday.
They urged the Government to immediately take steps to arrest the perpetrators of the crime, which had pained Dalits and all those who advocated social justice.
The protestors then submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor urging him to direct the Government to take action in the matter. Hubli Tahsildar S.S. Biradar received the memorandum from them.
During the protest in Dharwad, the protestors alleged that after the Government, led by the BJP, came to power in the State, atrocities against Dalits, minorities and weaker sections of society had increased. They wanted the Governor to issue directions to the Government and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor.
Times Of India
UK bill links caste to race, India red-faced
Manoj Mitta, TNN, Mar 31, 2010, 04.17am IST
NEW DELHI: In the first such legislative move anywhere in the world, and much to the embarrassment of India's official position, the British House of Lords has passed a law that treats caste as "an aspect of race".
On March 24, the House of Lords passed the Equality Bill empowering the British government to include "caste" within the definition of "race". This threatens India's much-touted success in keeping caste out of the resolution adopted at the 2001 Durban conference on racism. The provision to outlaw caste discrimination in Britain came in the form of an amendment made by the Lords as a result of intensive lobbying by dalit groups, including followers of Ravidass sect who had suffered a violent attack last year in Austria.
The bill will become a law after the House of Commons passes it. The legislation draws its legitimacy from a recommendation made in 2002 by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that all member states of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), including India and the UK, should enact domestic legislation declaring that descent-based discrimination encompassed caste and "analogous systems of inherited status".
This development comes at a time when the Manmohan Singh government is already under pressure before the UN Human Rights Council as the draft principles and guidelines issued by it last year on discrimination based on work and descent recognized caste as a factor. The British legislation may provide impetus for the adoption of those draft principles and guidelines.
Though the bill originally contained no reference to caste, the Gordon Brown government agreed to its inclusion even as it commissioned a research on the nature of the problem that is believed to have come into Britain through the Indian diaspora. A parliamentary committee, while recommending last year that caste be considered as a subset of race, cited specific instances of caste discrimination in Britain.
In one such case, a qualified dalit working in the National Health Service suddenly suffered discrimination at the hands of his supervisor soon after the latter discovered his "low caste" status. The dalit employee was reportedly harassed and suspended from work for a whole year. While a trade union managed to obtain compensation for him, the case highlighted a lacuna in the law to deal with caste discrimination. The Gordon Brown government accepted the amendment tabled by Liberal Democrats subject to the outcome of the research ordered by it on caste discrimination. Baroness Thornton, speaking for the government, told the peers, "We have looked for evidence of caste discrimination and we now think that evidence may exist, which is why we have now commissioned the research."
Lord Avebury, who had tabled the amendment, said he believed that the research would "conclusively prove that caste discrimination does occur in the fields covered by the bill". India's opposition to the linking of caste with race began in 1996, when it tried to free itself of "reporting obligation" under CERD, saying that caste, though perpetuated through descent, was "not based on race".
This is a drastic departure from the position originally taken by India in 1965 while proposing the historic amendment to introduce descent in CERD. It had actually cited its experience with caste as an argument for recognizing all forms of descent-based discrimination.
Zee News
5 get death, one life in Haryana honour killing case
http://www.zeenews.com/news615195.html
Karnal: In a landmark judgement in a Haryana honour killing case, a court here on Tuesday awarded capital punishment to five persons and life sentence to one for murdering a couple on the diktats of a self-styled community panchayat for marrying against societal norms.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma pronounced the sentence after reserving the judgement in the case yesterday.
The prosecution had termed the case as the "rarest of the rare" and pleaded for capital punishment to the six convicts for killing Manoj (23) and Babli (19), who hailed from Karora village in Kaithal district and had got married on May 18, 2007.
Last Thursday, the court had convicted them for murdering the couple of the same 'gotra' (sub-caste) in 2007. Another person was held guilty of abduction and the quantum of punishment was reserved.
It is the first case in which the boy's family had moved court against the honour killing after the 'khap' panchayat (caste-based council) had ruled against the couple's marriage.
Those sentenced are the girl's brother Suresh, uncles Rajender and Baru Ram and her cousins Gurdev and Satish besides leader of the panchayat Ganga Raj. A driver Mandeep Singh was convicted of kidnapping and awarded a seven year prison term.
Public prosecutor Sunil Rana described the court verdict as landmark judgement as khap panchayats "are acting against the law. They are taking law into their own hands and despite protection of the courts, innocent couples are being murdered".
Pronounced the judgement in a jam-packed courtroom, the judge observed that khap panchayats have functioned contrary to the Constitution, ridiculed it and have become a law unto themselves.
Rana said the legal battle was "quite difficult" as witnesses were not coming forward due to fear. "So you can imagine the terror spread by such panchayats."
The counsel for the convicts said that they would move the High Court against the verdict. They had earlier claimed there was insufficient evidence against their clients.
Lawyer for Manoj's family, Lal Bahadur said that the court has asked the Superintendent of Police to take action against police officials who had acted negligently.
"This is a very good verdict. It will sent a very good message. It will restore common man's faith in courts," he said, adding, "Lighter punishment would have been a mockery of justice."
Manoj's sister Seema said she was "a bit sad" that the panchayat leader who, she claimed, was the mastermind, had been given life sentence.
The couple had eloped in May 2007 and married secretly in Chandigarh. The panchayat had asked them to dissolve the marriage as people of the same gotra are considered as siblings.
Apprehending threat to their lives, the couple approached the police, which produced them before a Kaithal court on June 15, 2007. However, on the same day, they were kidnapped at Nilokheri as they were returning after a court appearance at Kaithal escorted by the police.
An FIR regarding their kidnapping was registered at the Bhutana police station on June 20.
The incensed family members and villagers announced the couple's social boycott. Their mutilated bodies were found in a canal on June 23. The hands and legs of Manoj and Babli had been tied.
According to the police, the girl's relatives had dragged the couple out from a Karnal bound bus, which they boarded from Pipli town in adjoining Kurukshetra district and murdered them before dumping their bodies in the canal.
The trial in the case continued for 33 months and 41 witnesses deposed in the case during 50 hearings.
It was virtually a lone battle for Chanderpati, 55-year-old mother of Manoj. Amid continuous threats to the boy's family members, the widow mustered the courage to speak out and seek justice over the role of community leaders in the murder of her son and his wife.
PTI
Karnal: In a landmark judgement in a Haryana honour killing case, a court here on Tuesday awarded capital punishment to five persons and life sentence to one for murdering a couple on the diktats of a self-styled community panchayat for marrying against societal norms.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Vani Gopal Sharma pronounced the sentence after reserving the judgement in the case yesterday.
The prosecution had termed the case as the "rarest of the rare" and pleaded for capital punishment to the six convicts for killing Manoj (23) and Babli (19), who hailed from Karora village in Kaithal district and had got married on May 18, 2007.
Last Thursday, the court had convicted them for murdering the couple of the same 'gotra' (sub-caste) in 2007. Another person was held guilty of abduction and the quantum of punishment was reserved.
It is the first case in which the boy's family had moved court against the honour killing after the 'khap' panchayat (caste-based council) had ruled against the couple's marriage.
Those sentenced are the girl's brother Suresh, uncles Rajender and Baru Ram and her cousins Gurdev and Satish besides leader of the panchayat Ganga Raj. A driver Mandeep Singh was convicted of kidnapping and awarded a seven year prison term.
Public prosecutor Sunil Rana described the court verdict as landmark judgement as khap panchayats "are acting against the law. They are taking law into their own hands and despite protection of the courts, innocent couples are being murdered".
Pronounced the judgement in a jam-packed courtroom, the judge observed that khap panchayats have functioned contrary to the Constitution, ridiculed it and have become a law unto themselves.
Rana said the legal battle was "quite difficult" as witnesses were not coming forward due to fear. "So you can imagine the terror spread by such panchayats."
The counsel for the convicts said that they would move the High Court against the verdict. They had earlier claimed there was insufficient evidence against their clients.
Lawyer for Manoj's family, Lal Bahadur said that the court has asked the Superintendent of Police to take action against police officials who had acted negligently.
This is a very good verdict. It will sent a very good message. It will restore common man's faith in courts," he said, adding, "Lighter punishment would have been a mockery of justice."
Manoj's sister Seema said she was "a bit sad" that the panchayat leader who, she claimed, was the mastermind, had been given life sentence.
The couple had eloped in May 2007 and married secretly in Chandigarh. The panchayat had asked them to dissolve the marriage as people of the same gotra are considered as siblings.
Apprehending threat to their lives, the couple approached the police, which produced them before a Kaithal court on June 15, 2007. However, on the same day, they were kidnapped at Nilokheri as they were returning after a court appearance at Kaithal escorted by the police.
An FIR regarding their kidnapping was registered at the Bhutana police station on June 20.
The incensed family members and villagers announced the couple's social boycott. Their mutilated bodies were found in a canal on June 23. The hands and legs of Manoj and Babli had been tied.
According to the police, the girl's relatives had dragged the couple out from a Karnal bound bus, which they boarded from Pipli town in adjoining Kurukshetra district and murdered them before dumping their bodies in the canal.
The trial in the case continued for 33 months and 41 witnesses deposed in the case during 50 hearings.
It was virtually a lone battle for Chanderpati, 55-year-old mother of Manoj. Amid continuous threats to the boy's family members, the widow mustered the courage to speak out and seek justice over the role of community leaders in the murder of her son and his wife. PTI
--
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
..................................................................
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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