Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 26.09.12
In Haryana, Dalit woman gang-raped at gunpoint, then filmed - NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/in-haryana-dalit-woman-gang-raped-at-gunpoint-then-filmed-272270
Hisar dalit gangrape: SC panel warns cops: Arrest all culprits or face suspension - Indian Express
Thangadh firing: Dalit leaders give 'Chalo Than' call - The Times Of India
State amends quota cap for SC, ST and backward classes - The Times Of India
NDTV
In Haryana, Dalit woman gang-raped at gunpoint, then filmed
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/in-haryana-dalit-woman-gang-raped-at-gunpoint-then-filmed-272270
Edited by Surabhi Malik | Updated: September 26, 2012 16:06 IST
Jind, Haryana: In north Haryana, a Dalit woman has been gang-raped in her home at gunpoint. The attack in the Jind district was also filmed on a phone camera and the MMS was circulated in her village.
The police said that two of the three alleged rapists have been arrested.
Nearly 60 kilometres away, in the village of Dabra, Dalits have been demanding justice for a teen girl who was gang-raped by 12 men (8 of them from the upper castes), with an MMS publicising the grotesquerie. he teen's father killed himself after he found out about the assault on her.
Indian Express
Hisar dalit gangrape: SC panel warns cops: Arrest all culprits or face suspension
Hisar dalit gangrape: With key accused in gangrape of a Dalit girl here still at large, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Tuesday took strong exception to the delay in nabbing them, and alleged that atrocities against the marginalised community were on rise in Haryana.
After carrying out two arrests on Saturday and Monday, the police said it had stepped up efforts to nab the remaining 10 accused even as additional forces have been deployed in the victim's village to instill a sense of security.
"So far we have arrested two youths. The efforts are on to arrest the remaining ones. We have got clues and eight teams have been sent to various places to nab them. We are hopeful that the accused will be arrested soon," Hisar police chief B Satheesh Balan said.
On the possibility of the accused having circulated a video clip of the rape incident as some of them had allegedly filmed the crime, Balan said things will become clear once the remaining accused are nabbed.
Meanwhile, the NCSC vice-chairman Raj Kumar Virk slammed the state government saying that "the atrocities and cruelty against the Dalits are increasing in Haryana. There are 600 complaints from Haryana pending with the Commission."
Virk said the commission will suspend or transfer the erring officers if the police fail to arrest all the accused in the the gangrape case in one week.
He also stressed establishing separate police stations to deal with cases of Dalits' exploitation.
In a related development, Sushila Sharma, chairperson, Haryana Women's Commission asked for exemplary punishment to the culprits. Sharma visited Dabra and met the victim and her family members. Elder brother of the deceased while commenting on the monetary help announcement made by the district administration for the family said no amount of financial help will "restore honour, respect and peace of our family".
Deputy Commissioner Amit Aggarwal told newsmen that all help would be provided to the victim and her family for rehabilitation.
The Times Of India
Thangadh firing: Dalit leaders give 'Chalo Than' call
TNN | Sep 26, 2012, 12.05PM IST
RAJKOT: Dalit rights activists on Tuesday gave a 'Chalo Than' call to their community to protest against the killing of three dalit youths in police firing in Thangadh on Saturday and Sunday.
The community will hold a massive gathering in the town on October 2.
Even as an uneasy calm prevailed in Thangadh, the anger over the killings spread in other parts of Saurashtra where community members took out rallies and demanded immediate action against the policemen responsible for firing without any warning. Rallies were held Chotila, Vallabhipur in Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Mehsana, Keshod in Jungadh and many other places.
Dalit leaders have called for a complete bandh in Limbdi town, roughly 70 kms from Thangadh, on Tuesday. "This is a heinous crime against dalits and action must be taken against the culprits. We have called for a bandh in Limbdi to press our demands," said dalit leader from Limbdi Ashok Chavda.
Situation in Thangadh, which has turned into a ghost town since two days, was calm but fear was palpable among people, especially shop keepers. Very few opened their shops and business establishments fearing fresh trouble.
Dalit community members requested them to open the shops, but not many wanted to take a risk. Close to 500 dalit women also took out a silent rally in the town to express their resentment.
Three dalit youths - Pankaj Sumra (16), Mehul Rathod (17) and Prakash Parmar (26), were killed on Saturday and Sunday.
The Times Of India
State amends quota cap for SC, ST and backward classes
TNN | Sep 26, 2012, 05.57AM IST
KOLKATA: With an eye on the all-crucial panchayat electionson radar, widely touted as the first major poll test for the Mamata Banerjee government, the panchayat and rural development department on Tuesday passed a bill in the state assembly, which not only caps the reservation for SC, ST and backward classes (BCs) to 50% of the total civic body seats, but also aims to accommodate BCs if some seats remain vacant due to the complex reservation formula.
It also aims to remove certain legal bottlenecks, which arose in the original law, making which made reservation of these groups proportionate to population. The demographic representation in some Bengal districts would have ensured such reservations to would have exceeding the 50% vertical reservation limit held by the Supreme Court, making elections subject to legal interpretation and challenges.
The bill passed on Tuesday amid stiff opposition by the Left Front (Congress also tried to unsuccessfully move two amendments) is a take-off from a similar bill passed in the state assembly on April 2, this year. That bill mandated that half of the reserved seats will be for women. It, however, stopped short of evolving the reservation criteria for SC, ST and BCs keeping the apex court verdict in mind. The reason for this was simple - the state government was then looking at broadening the backward classes' criteria. Since then the government has reworked on the OBC list by including 65 groups in the more backward classes category (category A) and 78 groups as backward classes (category B). In fact, it had altogether added 35 categories - 33 of this backward Muslims - to the OBC list prepared by the state backward classes commission.
Having done it, the government quickly passed an ordinance as the state election commission has already been notified on the forthcoming polls. Tuesday's bill replaced the September 4 ordinance.
The bill, capping the total reservation in all form to 50%, seeks to address the precipitate fallouts. One, should the reservations for SC and STs exceed 50%, it will be reduced by the same proportionate formula based on their population of SC and ST and second, if SC and ST reservation reaches the 50% mark, there will be no reservation for the BCs. However, the bill says government, in spite of all these changes, left a legal catch in the bill which says the implementation of these will be "nearly as practicable." This was perhaps necessitated by the fact that if there aren't any reserved candidates, the seats would have remained vacant leading to a skewed representation in those civic bodies.
Opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra argued that this would, in fact, reduce the representation of women, SC, ST and backward classes then the present.
"The constitution provides for proportionate representation of SC, ST and BCs proportionate to their population. It gives the state government adequate liberty to enact such provisions. The Apex court judgment being cited never binds the government to a 50% cap, as is being said." Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said, "The Apex court in K.Krishna Murthy us Union of India caps reservation in all form at 50%. That is what we've tried to do. We've tried to synchronize the judgment with the state laws to tide over possible legal issues in future. That is what CPM wants. It would hardly cost them anything in putting the entire election process in a legal quagmire."
--
.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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