Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 04.02.12
Man ties Dalit girl to a tree for 4 hrs for grazing sheep - DNA
Dalits protest atrocities - The Pioneer
http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/40025-dalits-protest-atrocities.html
Dalits rally in Balangir against Lathore torching - The Times Of India
Dalits see hypocrisy behind CPM's support - The Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/kochi/39878-dalits-see-hypocrisy-behind-cpms-support.html
AP: Ambedkar statue desecration; main accused surrenders - One India News
http://news.oneindia.in/2012/01/30/ambedkar-statue-defiling-main-accused-surrenders.html
DNA
Man ties Dalit girl to a tree for 4 hrs for grazing sheep
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_man-ties-dalit-girl-to-a-tree-for-4-hrs-for-grazing-sheep_1645367
Published: Friday, Feb 3, 2012, 11:19 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA
Nirmala Kantappa, a 14-year-old Dalit girl from Budihal PH village in Bijapur district, was tied to a tree by a man because she stole grass from his land on Thursday.
Nirmala, whose family owns a few sheep, was allegedly caught grazing her sheep at Nigamu Biradar's land. Biradar, in retaliation, tied her to a tree at 8.30am.
Biradar was enraged as he he had caught Nirmala grazing sheep on his land. He decided to teach her a 'lesson' this time by tying her to a tree. At 12.30pm, one of the villagers called the Sindagi police station and intimated them about the incident. A police team arrived
at the scene at 12.45pm and released the girl. Biradar, however, fled the scene. The girl was not admitted to a hospital as she did not sustain injuries. The police station dispatched four teams to nab iradar, who was caught on Thursday night. "We believe that it was not Biradar's intention to bring harm to this girl in any way. He just wanted to show the rest of the villagers that he had caught the thief red-handed. The photograph of the girl being tied up was actually taken by her father, who then circulated it to the media. We will investigate this case further," said SP DP Rajappa.
The Pioneer
http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/40025-dalits-protest-atrocities.html
Saturday, 04 February 2012 00:02
PNS | Bhubaneswar
Bottom of Form
Protesting atrocities on Dalit people starting from Kujang cracker blast case and Pipili gang-rape case to the recent attack on Dalits at Lathore village in Bolangir district, Dalit organisations from different parts of the State staged a massive rally and dharna at the Lower PMG here on Friday to exert pressure on the Government to provide security and proper justice to the victims of atrocity.
Hundreds of Dalit people, human rights activists, youths and workers of different Dalit forums including Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch, Mulanibasi Samata Parishad, Adimbasi Suraksha Parishad and Odisha Bhoi Mahasangh took out a procession from Master Canteen to Lower PMG flaunting placards bearing slogans against the police and the State Government.
In a six-point charter of demands, the members demanded punishment to the culprits on charges of setting houses of Dalits on fire at Lathore village in Bolangir district, in accordance with the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, compensation for the victims, RoR and house for the victims, steps to avoid repeat of such heinous incidents in future, punishment for the duty-bearers who have shown negligence in their duty and providing necessary certificates and files damaged in the fire incident.
Besides, members of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NCDO) staged dharna at the Lower PMG here demanding proper action against defaulters of law in various atrocity cases against Dalits in the State. Later, they submitted a five-point charter of demands to the Chief Minister.
The Times Of India
Dalits rally in Balangir against Lathore torching
TNN | Feb 4, 2012, 06.08AM IST
BALANGIR: An outfit of the dalit community took out a rally here on Friday in protest against alleged torching of 30 dalit houses in Lathore village by the upper caste people on January 23. The 5,000 protestors submitted a memorandum to the district collector.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the way in which police handled the situation, the outfit members also demanded action against the cops. "We not only demand action against the erring police officials but also demand that Balangir district be declared SC-ST atrocity prone," said Omprakash Kumbhar, president of Lakhe Ghara Ganda Samaj Unnayana Samiti. He said the main accused who engineered the riot, is yet to be arrested.
Pointing out that the country liquor shops are also contributing in increasing the differences between upper and lower caste people, the outfit urged the district administration to demolish all such shops. Around 250 men, women and children were shifted to temporary shelter following torching of the houses of dalits. Forty-two persons were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Property worth about Rs 2.5 crore was damaged in the riot.
The outfit informed that in the last two years, 12 such incidents have taken place. The atrocity-prone villages, as per the information of the outfit, are Lakarma, Belpada, Jamsar, Pardhiapali, Kalijharan, Bandhpada, Gaibahal, Uparbahal, Bubel and Ambahali. "In every incident, either false allegations were slapped on lower caste people or the upper caste people insulted the dalits", said Sitaram Kumbhar, secretary of the outfit.
The Pioneer
Dalits see hypocrisy behind CPM's support
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/kochi/39878-dalits-see-hypocrisy-behind-cpms-support.html
Friday, 03 February 2012 22:16
VR Jayaraj | Kochi
Bottom of Form
Prominent Dalit organizations and intellectuals in Kerala are refusing to accept as genuine the support offered to them by the CPI(M) in the draft political resolution it has p repared for presentation at the 20 the party congress to be held in Kozhikode in April
Most of such organizations are viewing the "newfound love for Dalits" (as an intellectual puts it) of the Marxists as a hypocritical posture it has been forced to adopt in the context of unprecedented erosion in its working class and middle class base.
The draft political resolution of the CPI(M) for the congress says "The fight against untouchability and caste oppression of Dalits has to be actively taken up by the party". But a prominent Dalit intellectual asked, "What were the Marxists doing all these decades? Is it that they came to know of the oppression of the Dalits only now?"
He said the CPI(M) had "never ever even pretended" in the recent past that they were worried about the Dalits' suffering. "When we were agitating for land to live on and to cultivate, the CPI(M) masters were more worried about the protection of the lands of their middle class supporters," he said.
A leader of the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyuktha Vedi, a Dalit forum which had spearheaded a four-year-long, arduous agitation for land to live on when the CPI(M)-led LDF was in power in Kerala, said the "Marxist masters" had even threatened to send police with teeth and claw to quell the struggle. "They are now asking us to trust them," he said.
Pointing out that the draft resolution of the CPI(M) had identified "landlessness and denial of access to water supply, public roads and other services" as factors that affected Dalits' lives", the Dalit leader said the party was perhaps for the first time understanding why it had lost West Bengal to Mamata and Maoists".
"As far as we are concerned, there is no difference between the CPI(M) and the Congress-led Government in the Centre. Their approach to us – and also the Adivasis – is the same in Kerala as well as in the national level. The Marxists are now worried because we are beginning to identify our inner strength, which is detrimental to their interests," he said.
Dalit leaders say that the CPI(M) has not yet been able to understand the value of identity politics in India, a country of complex religious, caste and cultural systems. Dalit intellectual Soman of Alappuzha said the Marxists were still living in "a fool's paradise" with their reductionist theory that everything in the human world was determined by class war.
Even the draft political resolution itself is saying, "The growth of identity politics based on caste, religion, tribe and ethnicity is posing a major challenge for Left politics in the country. The ruling classes and imperialist finance capital find such politics eminently suitable for their interests."
Soman said that Marxists in India were still formulating their political programmes on the basis of 19th century theorizations by Karl Marx in that age's European reality. "They have not yet learned that a society's politics is determined by its own inner dynamics and dialectics. I think Marx himself would have advised them so if he were alive today," he said.
One India News
AP: Ambedkar statue desecration; main accused surrenders
http://news.oneindia.in/2012/01/30/ambedkar-statue-defiling-main-accused-surrenders.html
Monday, January 30, 2012, 13:49 [IST]
Rajahmundry (AP), Jan 30: With the Republic Day celebrations in Andhra Pradesh hampered after some miscreants engaged in desecrating B R Ambedkar's statues in East Godavari, the case has achieved a breakthrough when the main accused in the act has surrendered before
police.
The accused identified as Gandham Pallam Raju surrendered on Monday. The police, meanwhile, were also successful in foiling attempts by Dalit leaders to make the issue big. They were stopped from protesting and many from the community were arrested as a precautionary measure.
The police stated that Gandham Pallam Raju, allegedly involved in the desecration of the statues, surrendered before the district police. He was wanted in another case six months back involving the attack perpetrated against Tollywood actor Rajasekhar and his wife Jeevitha
while they were shooting in Amlapuram division. There are many other cases filed against him.
The police added that they were on the lookout for eight other accused who also engaged in defiling the statues. The total number of arrest made so far in this case has become 4 now.
Among those arrested include Jupudi Prabahkar Rao, Gollapalli Surya Rao, Bojja Tharakam and K Nirmala Kumari. They were arrested when they were traveling to Amlapuram in East Godavari district. They were scheduled to attend a meeting in the backdrop of the defiling of the
Ambedkar statues. They said, "We are organising the meeting to discuss the reasons for desecration of the statues and not for other things."
The dalit leaders also condemned the arrests made regarding the incident citing that the police were targeting innocent people.
With the chances that the incident could flare-up to something bigger, security was heightened in the district following the leader's arrest. The police stated that the accused defiled the statues under the influence of alcohol. MLC K Durgesh, meanwhile launched an indefinite fast in Rajahmundry demanding arrest of the "real" culprits.
TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao condemned the desecration of Ambedkar's statues. He added that the TRS will support the bandh call by some groups in the state.
--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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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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