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Digest of Atrocities/violence/killings against Dalits

SUMMARY
of Digest of Newspaper-reported Atrocities against Dalits
July-December 2002
DECEMBER
31 December 2002

Dalit meal volunteer assaulted in Khammam

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2002 01:49:29 AM ]
KHAMMAM: A Dwcra woman member belonging to the Schedule Caste was allegedly beaten up by two persons belonging to an upper caste for agreeing to prepare mid-day meal for school children.
The issue was brought to the notice of the District Development Review Committee (DDRC) by Sujathanagar MLA Ramireddy Venkata Reddy on Monday. He said Ramulu and Venkateswarlu of Basithnagar attacked the Dwcra member in Kamepally mandal two days ago and the woman lodged a complaint with the local police station on the issue.
The MLA said the woman offered to prepare food as the government had entrusted the job to Dwcra. The MLA said the two accused allegedly threatened her and asked her not to prepare food as she belongs to a lower caste.

30 December 2002

'Dalits under attack as police remain apathetic'

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/31/stories/2002123105380400.htm
By S. Dorairaj

VILLUPURAM DEC. 30. It was 11.30 p.m. on December 22, when most of the 350-odd Dalits of Annamangalam in Villupuram district, squatted on the ground, were anxiously waiting to watch the 'therukoothu' organised at their colony by one M. Rajaram to fulfil the "last wish" of his father, Munusamy, who died recently.
An armed gang comprising members of a non-Dalit community, descended on the scene around 11.50 p.m. and launched an attack with long sickles and iron rods. The Dalits, both young and old, along with the folk artistes, started running helter skelter. Then the gang stormed the Dalit colony, ransacking the houses, destroying property and injuring men and cattle.
The violence was a sequel to Rajaram's alleged 'failure' to appear before the local panchayat in connection with a case registered against his brother.
As many as 50 Dalits managed to reach the Valathi police station, around 2 a.m. on December 23, seeking protection. They were able to return to the colony only after the arrest of 12 non-Dalits under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989.
A virtual 'social boycott' was allegedly slapped on the Dalits. As most of them were landless farm labourers, they had to go to neighbouring villages seeking farm work. "Barring a few Dalit families, they were neither allowed to graze cattle in the village nor purchase articles in local shops."

27 December 2002

Dalit assaulted
(Karnataka)

KOLAR (Karnataka) DEC. 26. In a macabre incident, a Dalit youth was assaulted and forced to drink urine after a petty quarrel in Bellappanahalli village today.
Police said Venkatesh, an auto driver, got into a verbal duel with Nagi Reddy, over a petty issue, and was brutally assaulted by the latter and his friends. Eyewitnesses said that when Venkatesh asked for water, he was forced drink urine. He was later admitted to the Government General Hospital.
As the news spread, tension gripped the village with people belonging to the Dalit community staging a dharna in front of Circle Inspector's Office, demanding the arrest of the culprits. Six persons have been arrested.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/27/stories/2002122705661100.htm

25 - 26 December 2002

One held in Dalit students attack case
(Delhi)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/25/stories/2002122504191101.htm

NEW DELHI DEC. 24. A student of Hindu College here who, along some others, allegedly beat up three Dalit students in a hostel room on December 20, has been arrested by the North Delhi police, while other accused are still at large. The arrested student, David Boon, his associates - Ravi Tushir, Ajit Singh Lathar and others - allegedly broke into room No. 82 of the mess secretary, Bharat Rohin. They beat up Rohin, his brother and the hostel president, Mrityunjay.
Mrityunjay sustained injuries in the left leg, while Rohin's face and back was bruised. Rohin's brother, Vikrant, suffered a fracture in his finger. The three were threatened with dire consequences if they revealed anything about the incident to anyone. But their seniors insisted on getting a case registered after they came to know of the incident. The police who had earlier refused to register an FIR saying they required a formal complaint from the hostel warden, later registered a case after the students approached the SC/ST Commission on Tuesday. The Commission assured the victims of a thorough investigation into the matter.

24 December 2002

Dalit students attacked in Delhi college

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/24/stories/2002122404880100.htm

NEW DELHI DEC. 23. Three Dalit students of the Hindu College here were allegedly beaten up by over a dozen students in a hostel room on December 20. And they approached the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Commission today after police reportedly refused to lodge an FIR on their complaint on Sunday.
The incident took place when over a dozen students, led by David Boon, Ravi Tushir and Ajit Singh Lathar, broke into the room of the mess secretary, Bharat Rohin. Mr. Rohin's brother, Vikrant, and the hostel president, Mrityunjay, were also present in the room. Armed with sticks, the assailants locked the door from inside and started beating up the three saying that the hostel had turned into a "harijan" stronghold after Mrityunjay was elected its president. Mrityunjay sustained injuries in the leg, while Rohin's face and back were badly bruised. Vikrant, who tried to intervene, suffered a fracture, students said.
The three alleged that they were threatened with dire consequences if they complained to police about the incident. However, a few senior students came to know of the attack and insisted on reporting the matter to police. But at the Maurice Nagar police station, police refused to register an FIR. The victims were told that a formal complaint would have to be made by the hostel warden.Thereafter, the students approached the SC/ST Commission. They also met the Delhi Police Commissioner, Radhey Shyam Gupta, who directed the area Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Baniwal, to take immediate action.
A case under Sections 341, 323 and 506 of the IPC and Section 3 of the SC/ST Act was registered after medical examination of the victims tonight. However, those named in the complaint are yet to be arrested.

22 - 23 December 2002

Dalit farmer burnt alive
(Bangalore)
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec22/c3.asp

DH News Service BANGALORE, Dec 21
In a bizarre incident, a Dalit farmer was burnt alive by some miscreants before robbing him of Rs 30 when he was returning home after selling potatoes in Doddathagalli near Hoskote around 8.30 pm. The victim Muniyappa (55) of Hosahalli succumbed to his burn injuries at Victoria Hospital.
Muniyappa was returning from Kattigenahalli after selling potatoes. The killers poured kerosene on Muniyappa and set him ablaze. Muniyappa then managed to douse the fire himself and went to Chinnigerayapur, where his relatives admitted him to a hospital. Last night, he was shifted to Victoria Hospital, where he succumbed today. Kadugodi police visited the spot.

Students flee Delhi hostel after caste row
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1021223/asp/nation/story_1507906.asp
RAJEEV BHATTACHARYYA

New Delhi, Dec. 22: Two students of Delhi University’s Hindu College have fled their hostel after they were thrashed allegedly over their caste. One of the two Scheduled Caste students has suffered a leg fracture. The other student and a guest are covered all over with bruises.
Bharat Rohin and Mrityunjay Kumar, both of BA third year, and Vikrant Rohin picked up a quarrel with hostel inmates allegedly over “caste issues” and for “ seeking to turn the hostel into an SC hostel”. The three have complained to the police though an FIR is yet to be filed. The station house officer has reportedly said no action can be initiated unless the hostel warden complains in writing.
“Abuses along caste lines had begun from September, immediately after the (student) elections,” Mrityunjay, also the hostel president, said. “On one occasion, when it had become impossible to suffer the insults, the (students’) union had to expel two students (from the hostel) who led the campaign against us,” he said. He alleged that there were constant threats to “re-enact Jhajjar in Hindu College”. “We were so scared that we never divulged the facts to the police and chose to call it an accident in the hospital,” Mrityunjay said.
Things came to a head when the expelled students were readmitted to the hostel. The warden allegedly warned Mrityunjay against complaining to the police about any hostel inmate. Three days ago, 15 inmates locked up the three boys in their rooms and thrashed them for hours together. “Of the 15 who attacked us, only three were (hostel) residents. The others were day scholars and outsiders whom we haven’t seen before,” Bharat said.

20 December 2002

Dalit paraded naked in Gopalganj dist
(Bihar)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=31807323

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2002 01:39:10 AM ]
GOPALGANJ: A Dalit was paraded naked and his face blackened with paint for daring to go to fetch his daughter-in-law belonging to a higher caste from her home village in Gopalganj district, police said on Thursday.
The incident occurred as Krishna Ram of Sarai Hanumangarhi went to the neighbouring Vishnupur village to fetch Suman Kumari whom his son, Kanhaiya Ram, had married in court in June this year. Despite enmity between the two families following the marriage between the Dalit boy and the girl of sonar caste, Krishna Ram went to her village to bring her back.
On reaching the village, Krishna Ram was pounced upon and abused by the girl's family members, stripped and paraded naked in the village with his faced smeared with black paint, the sources said.

HC orders collector to take action on boycott issue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2002 11:56:37 PM ]
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court has ordered the Sabarkantha district collector to take action within two months against the social boycott of Dalits by the upper caste Hindus over the burial ground issue at Vaghrota village of Prantij taluka.
The village, which is dominated by the upper caste members, had declared a social boycott of Dalits who are not allowed to purchase even essential commodities from their shops. Dalits are also not allowed to sell their commodities.
The boycott followed a dispute between the Dalits and villagers over a Dalit burial ground. The petitioners claim that they have been burying their dead since generations. The upper castes have built a temple there and have plans to build a school also, which was opposed strongly leading to the tension.

15 December 2002

Another attack on Dalits

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune, Panipat, December 15
Despite assurances by the district administration, the Dalits and the Muslims of Nawada Aar village, 22 km from here on the Haryana-UP border were attacked yet again yesterday allegedly by hooligans hired by the upper caste leaving five persons injured.
According to eyewitnesses, the hooligans, allegedly hired by certain persons from the upper caste, attacked the Dalits and the Muslims living in Nawada Aar. They had also allegedly damaged their property. However, the police acted rather swiftly this time and registered cases against Gordhan, an influential resident of the area, and another person.
Meanwhile, a BSP team, led by the Haryana unit chief, Mr Ashok Sherwal, and the local district president of the unit, Mr Randhir Singh, which visited the village today, while demanding strict action against the guilty, blamed the local administration for the second attack on the hapless families in about a month.

11 December 2002

Dalit girl raped
(Basti)

BASTI DEC. 10. A 10-year-old Dalit girl was raped while returning from school in Mirwapur village of this district by a resident of the same area, a police official said today. An FIR was lodged accusing a 40-year-old Mani Ram Chaudhry for the crime. He said the incident had sparked off tension in the village.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/11/stories/2002121105310102.htm

Sahariyas battle official prejudice, apathy (Rajasthan)

The Sahariyas' deprivation has come into sharp focus as they now battle chronic hunger and starvation, apart from the prejudices the babudom here seems to harbour against them.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=30891865

1-2 December 2002

Dalit lynched for his affair with Muslim
(Raipur)

A 17-year-old Dalit was allegedly lynched yesterday at Bhilai for his affair with a Muslim girl. Om Prakash’s body was found hanging from the ceiling of a cattle shed which was locked from outside.
http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=14019


NOVEMBER
30 November 2002

Youth gets life term for Dalit killings
(Tamil Nadu)

CUDDALORE NOV. 29. The district sessions court today awarded life sentence to a 25-year-old youth for hacking three Dalits to death at M.Puliangudi in Kattumannarkoil taluk in 2000.
Karthik alias T.Karthikeyan of the same village hacked the Dalits - Gandhi, Rajesh alias Vellaiyan and Mathialagan of a Dalit colony - with a long sickle, when they were fast asleep on May 26, 2000.
The attack was a reaction to some colony residents objecting to Karthikeyan's alleged secret relationship with B.Prabavathi, a Dalit woman. Karthikeyan was caught when he attempted to enter her house on May 25. The three youth reportedly warned him that his case would be brought to the notice of 'Oorpanchayat'.
The accused took revenge on them, committing the triple murder the next day.
The Kumaratchi police registered cases against Karthikeyan under Section 302 IPC and Section 3 (2) (V) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Several parts of the district, including areas in Kattumannarkoil, became tense after the murder. Most of the Vanniya residents fled the village and bus services to many areas were suspended for quite sometime.
The principal sessions judge, P.Devadass, awarded life sentence to Karthikeyan on the ground that the prosecution established its case.


17 - 18 November 2002

Dalit woman paraded half-naked in Kishanganj
(Patna)

KISHANGANJ: A middle-aged Dalit woman Bharati Devi, wife of Amarnath Das and a resident of Dharmganj locality in the town was allegedly assaulted and paraded half-naked recently. The trouble is traced to a long-standing but extremely convulated land dispute between two groups who are involved in string of cases and counter-cases.
…Bharati Devi, however, time and again insisted that a group of about eight persons, including some women, forcibly broke open her room on November 3, abused and assaulted her. Afterwards, they caught her by scruff of the neck, dragged her out and "paraded me half-naked with barely a petticoat on". She even gave her statement in writing.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=28605276

Two cops suspended for neglecting Dalit complaint (Bangalore)
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov17/s4.asp

16 November 2002

3 lynched in UP over inter-caste marriage

Agence France-Presse

Lucknow, November 16
A young couple and a friend were burned alive in a village in Uttar Pradesh by the bride's family which was enraged she had eloped with a boy from a lower caste, police said on Saturday.
Gudiya Singh, who belonged to the upper-caste Thakur community, had fallen in love with Rakesh, from the lowest caste, the Dalits, and the pair eloped Wednesday night in Aatgaon village in Uttar Pradesh.
On discovering Gudiya had run off with a lower-caste boy, her father, Sher Singh, enlisted the help of his family to track down Dharam Singh, another Dalit, who had helped organize the impromptu marriage, police said.
After forcing the boy to divulge where the couple was hiding, the bride's family beat all three of them and burned them alive. The charred remains were recovered Friday from a nearby pond, police said.
Police said they sent reinforcements to the village, which is some 200 kilometers from Lucknow, to catch those behind the lynching and prevent wider caste conflict.
Officers say they are still seeking the arrest of the father and any other family members involved.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/2002/Nov/16/181_103572,000900010004.htm

13 November 2002

Eight injured in clash between Dalits, upper caste persons


As many as eight persons, including a woman, were injured in a clash between some Dalits and upper caste persons over a trivial issue at Bhagwatipur village under Rohtak sadar police jurisdiction, about 15 km from here, on Sunday.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/131102/detCIT13.shtml

12 November 2002

Six Dalit youths attacked, woman stripped

Vipin Sharma

Tribune, Rohtak, November 12
The Haryana units of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party have condemned the incident in which a group of upper caste youths allegedly attacked the Harijan basti at Bhagwatipur village and beat up six Dalit youths with sticks and sharp-edged weapons on Sunday evening.
The assailants also allegedly stripped a Dalit woman who tried to intervene. Moreover, when the affected youths reached the police station to register a complaint, the cops on duty allegedly scolded them and directed them to reach a compromise.
Narrating the harrowing incident, a Dalit youth admitted in the civil hospital here, Raj Karan, said that a Dalit boy, Sajjan Kumar (16), was engaged as a labourer in the village. He said the boy had fastened the lower edges of his shirt as it was devoid of buttons and was going to fetch a ‘biri’ from a nearby shop. He was intercepted by two upper caste youths on the way who allegedly objected to his dress and used abusive language. They also beat him up when he opposed the humiliation on caste lines.
Raj Karan said the Dalit boy challenged both the youths to beat him in his basti. After a few hours, both the assailants reached the Harijan basti along with their ten accomplices, armed with sticks and sharp-edged weapons in an inebriated condition. They reportedly dragged several Dalits out of their houses and beat them up for nearly three hours.
During the scuffle, they also allegedly tore the clothes of a Dalit woman and beat another woman, Darshana, who came to the other woman’s rescue. He said Dariao Singh, Manoj, Sombir, Gaje Singh and Raj Karan (all Dalits) sustained injuries and were admitted to the civil hospital here.

10 November 2002

Dalit raped for husband’s Rs 100 loan

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1021111/asp/nation/story_1373268.asp
TAPAS CHAKRABORTY

Ara, Nov. 10: The focus on atrocities on Dalits has swivelled from Jhajjar in Haryana - where some youths were lynched for skinning a cow - to Ara in Bihar, where an upper-caste landlord raped a Dalit’s wife on Friday after accusing him of not repaying a loan of Rs 100.
“This is one of the most horrendous rape incidents by an upper caste who wanted to show his power on the Dalit woman on the plea that her husband did not pay the Rs 100 he had taken as loan. But we found out later that the amount had been repaid,” district magistrate Sanjay Kumar told The Telegraph today.
On Friday morning, Gopal reached the Dalit colony on the outskirts of the village in search of Paswan and demanded the money back. Paswan told him that he had returned the money. “When I said I had repaid the money to Lalan Tiwari, he did not believe me. He grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me to his house,” Paswan said.
He was taken to an outhouse in Gopal’s farm and tied to a pillar. Paswan recounted that Gopal began to shower blows on him, saying: “Ungrateful dog, who told you to return the money to Lalan?”
Panupati Devi, Paswan’s wife, learnt from neighbours that her husband had been dragged to Gopal’s house. She rushed there to beg for mercy.
When she reached the outhouse and pleaded with the landlord to release Paswan, an enraged Gopal allegedly grabbed her and forced her into his rest room. “The accused then allegedly tied the Dalit woman’s hands before raping her violently,” said Biswanath Tiwari, investigating officer of the case.
Once the landlord left, Panupati escaped. She ran back to her mother-in-law and told her what had happened. The two later went to the police station and lodged a complaint.

7 November 2002

First outraged, now doomed to live in ignominy

Ravi S. Singh

Tribune, Sohna (Gurgaon), November 7
In another molestation case a few days before the Behrawati episode, a youth of Lohsanghani village, about 15 km from here, tried to molest a Dalit girl from the same village while she was going to answer the nature’s call in the morning.
The accused tried to do so at knife-point. Had it not been for the timely intervention from another women passing by, he would have had his way. The youth fled from the scene. When the girl’s mother went to the house of the accused to complain, he attacked her with a knife. Another woman who had intervened was injured. The incident has also been reported to the police.

6 November 2002

Tension in Gaya villages after Dalit killings
(Patna)

Caste tension grips several villages of the Fatehpur police station area of the district as the bodies of the two Dalits kidnapped from the Burh Manjui village on Friday night are yet to be recovered. Though a case against 10 Yadavas of the area and 20 other unnamed persons have been instituted in this connection, no arrests have so far been made.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=27210429

5 November 2002

Caste conflicts lose sting
(Jehanabad)

Yesterday, policemen fished out the bodies of two women, packed in gunny bags, from a shallow pond at Burgijoi, about 20 km from here. They were among the four members of a Dalit family abducted on the night of November 1. The police were unable to trace the other two persons.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1021104/asp/nation/story_1353008.asp


OCTOBER
31 October 2002

Dalit woman raped in Uttar Pradesh

Press Trust of India

Kanpur, October 31
A dalit woman was allegedly raped by three men in Ghatampur police circle in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday night, police said on Thursday. According to the police, the woman, a midwife in village Chaja was approached by one Raj Kumar of the same village to assist his wife's delivery.
While going with Raj Kumar, two of his associates accosted them on the way and dragged her to the fields where all the three men are reported to have criminally assaulted her in a drunken state.
The woman informed the incident to her husband who lodged a case with Ghatampur police station. While no arrest has been made so far police is investigating the case.

29 October 2002

Dalit beaten up, paraded in Sivaganga

The Hindu, By R. Ilangovan

Sivaganga Oct. 29. A Dalit farm worker was "thrashed and paraded half naked" when he resisted the use of machine, instead of human labour, for desilting a village tank at Satharasankottai in Sivaganga district.
The revolting act was allegedly enacted before the entire village community by a powerful few, who resented the Dalit interference in desilting works in the traditional water holding system. Velu was brutally attacked when he raised objections to village labour not being engaged. "The councillor (M.S. Sahabudeen of the AIADMK) and his men beat me with wooden logs and dragged me to the village bus stop," he said. The village, with a strong caste Hindu population, remained a mute witness. Velu was rescued by his brother's son, who promised the assailants that he would henceforth keep silent.

25 October 2002

Preying on Dalits

Frontline, S. VISWANATHAN 25 Oct 2002

On September 5, at Kaundampatti in Dindigul district, Sankan, a Dalit agricultural worker, was forced to drink urine - for having lodged with the police a complaint of trespass against a caste Hindu, following a dispute between them over a piece of land. Sankan had to suffer many atrocities during his five-year-long struggle against his caste-Hindu landlord to get possession of the land. In his complaint, Sankan stated that the landlord had collected nearly Rs.1 lakh over a period of 15 years through deductions from his wages, as the price of the land.
When Sankan resisted the entry of Kannan, who claimed to be one of the new owners of the land, he and his family were assaulted. He lodged a complaint with the police on September 4. The next day Kannan along with a group of persons, including the police constable, Annadurai, confronted Sankan and attacked him. In his statement Sankan said that he was dragged for about 200 metres and beaten. When he stumbled, he was caught by the hair and an assailant urinated into his mouth.
An equally horrifying incident occurred at Thinniyam village in Tiruchi district on May 22. Two Dalits, Murugesan and Ramasami, were forced "to feed each other" human excreta. The "crime" they committed was that they stood by another Dalit, Karuppiah, who was engaged in a prolonged struggle against a former panchayat president and her husband to recover an amount of money he said he had given them as a bribe to get a house allotted for his sister.

19 October 2002

Dalit raped in Haryana

Tribune, Narnaul, October 19

A Dalit girl died after she was allegedly abducted and raped by some unidentified persons in a village in the district, police sources said today.
The six-year-old girl was abducted while she was sleeping with her grandmother at her house in Dongra village last night and raped, they said.
She died before being taken to a hospital, the sources said, adding that “the cause of the death is not immediately clear.”
Angry villagers blocked several roads and shouted slogans demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. PTI

17 October 2002

Twelve die of starvation in Rajasthan

Hindustan Times, Rajesh Sinha (Baran (Rajasthan), Oct. 17)

At least 12 persons, most of them children under ten years of age, have died because of hunger in the past four weeks in two blocks of this remote district adjoining Madhya Pradesh. Villagers say the number of deaths in the past two months could be even higher.
With employment and local income dwindling, hunger is rampant and chronic in this area, which is located about 350 km from Jaipur.
Family members of the victims say none of them have had had a square meal in weeks. They say they are managing on a meal consisting of a roti every two days.
Families of each of the victims have stories to corroborate this claim even though the authorities say the deaths were caused by disease.
A medical team that went there claims to have found some foodgrains in the victims' houses that an accompanying local reporter did not see.
MLA Hiralal Sahariya denies there were starvation deaths. He agrees most people are surviving on less than one square meal a day, a meal of one roti made from a grass, which is harmful to health. “But if someone dies due to this, you cannot call it death due to hunger,” he says.
He has in his file a written statement from the people, according to which the children died because of vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and stomach ache over a prolonged period.
However, no medical facility is available in the village despite official claims that the deaths were caused by disease.
The villagers allege that the patwari and later the ADM, scolded and threatened them for saying that their children starved to death.
“There is no source of livelihood, and because of drought there is no food. Labourers are facing starvation and some tribals have no foodgrains left in their houses,” said a joint statement by the villagers. Will Jaipur respond to the SOS?

Action on Dalit murders: cow sent for post-mortem
SP says this will prove if cow was dead or alive! How does this affect the case? ‘It will explain the mob’s anger’
Indian Express, Sonu Jain

Badshahpur/ Jhajjar, October 17:
Two days after five Dalits are lynched barely two hours from the heart of the nation’s capital, this is the status report: Not a single arrest, a few statements of outrage, the local VHP justifying the murder. And if you thought this was shocking, consider this: the administration has sent the carcass of the cow for a post mortem.
To ostensibly find out if the victims were skinning a live cow or a dead cow!
"Final conclusion will be drawn after the report comes," says Muhammad Akil, Superintendent of Police, Jhajjar, "the viscera has been preserved for further investigation." The Indian Express questioned Akil:

Have you identified any suspects?
No, today the priority is to maintain law and order, dousing the inflamed passions of the people.
Given that the five were murdered, how is the postmortem of the cow relevant?
It will show how the mob got emotional when they saw an act like this.
The victims’ families say they have been doing this for generations. Why will they stop in front of a police station to skin a live cow?
It is unusual. It was their maut (death) that forced them to stop.
All this is a cruel joke for Ratan Singh, father of 27-year-old Virender Singh, one of those burnt alive. A resident of Badshahpur village in Gurgaon, Ratan Singh says that this is nothing but a cover-up.
"We have been doing this for three generations. There is no question of them skinning a cow by the side of the road. They worked on contracts which they got from Municipality auctions," he says.
"The truck the five Dalits were travelling in had hides and would never carry a carcass."
According to him, his son and his nephew Dayachand hired a truck, picked up hides from Farruqnagar and were going to Karnal to sell it. A trader from Karnal, Kailash, was with them.
Dayachand, in his early 30s, has left behind his young wife and two children.
Dayachand’s father Budhram alleges that as per his inquiries, the police stopped the truck and asked the five Dalits for a bribe.
"When they refused to pay, they were beaten up and a case registered under the Cow Slaughter Act. Since one of them got seriously injured, they had no option but to spread the story that they were killing a cow."
Totaram and Raju were the driver and the conductor of the truck. Raju was only 16 and his father Ram Pal is a sweeper in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
"We were told at three in the morning that here had been an accident and that our sons were admitted in the Jhajjar Civil Hospital," says Ram Pal.
"When we rushed there, it was difficult to identify the bodies. They were half burnt, their eyes gouged out."
In the FIR, the police claim that they tried protecting the victims but were helpless. "4-5,000 strong mob that had gone mad and was armed with stones and swords attacked us (police)," says the FIR.
Despite several eyewitnesses and officials admitting they were there, no one has been named in the FIR. "When the City Magistrate met us, he told us that 10 faces were in front of his eyes right through the night and he could not sleep, why can’t he identify them and catch them," asks Raju’s father.
A special "investigative team" has been set up under DSP Jhajjar Narender Singh. But this has made no headway in the case for, as Akil himself admits: "We have been busy explaining the circumstances of the case to maintain law and order. The ramifications could spread to other states."
Meanwhile, the usual suspects have come rushing in. Ram Vilas Paswan is going to visit the victim’s families. Today, Brinda Karat with other Left leaders met authorities. On Sunday, 50 village panchayats are meeting in Gurgaon. Social organisations demanded that Rs 10 lakh be paid to each victim’s family along with a government job.

16 October 2002

Story about Haryana case: 5 Dalits lynched in Haryana, entire administration watches

The Indian Express, SONU JAIN

JHAJJAR, HARYANA, OCTOBER 16: Less than two hours from the capital, this was the scene today outside the Dulena police post in Jhajjar district: patches of blood on the road, a pile of smouldering ashes.
This is where five Dalits, all in their 20s, were beaten to death last night, two of them torched. They were doing what they have been doing for years: skinning dead cows to sell the hide. This time, however, "someone" spread the word that the cow was alive.
So a mob, returning after the Dussehra fair, dragged them out of the police post where they had taken refuge and lynched them to the cries of Gau mata ki jai. Watched by the City Magistrate, the DSP of Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh, the Municipal Corporator’s husband, the Block Development Officer and at least 50 policemen.
Says City Magistrate Raj Pal Singh who saw the lynching: "We tried stopping them but got hurt ourselves in the process. I was dragged a few feet away, otherwise I would have been killed."
One FIR has been registered against "unknown people," while a second has been filed against the victims under the Cow Slaughter Act.
Local office-bearers of the VHP and the Shiv Sena have submitted a memorandum to the local police asking them not to take any action against the guilty.
The Indian Express spoke to several eyewitnesses and district officials to reconstruct the incident. And they suggested this was no impulsive act, the frenzy built up over a good three and a half hours-the Dalits were first "spotted" at 6.30 pm, beaten and dragged to the police post and then battered to death between 9 and 10 pm.
* Five Dalits had bought what they claimed was a dead cow from Farooqnagar and were on their way to sell the hide-something which they traditionally do here to earn a living.
*They were first seen 500 m from the police post by a group of men returning from Dusshera festivities.
*This group reached Jhajjar, 15 minutes away, and informed the local Dharamshala that "cow slaughter was going on."
*Within minutes, two vehicles with the District Magistrate, two priests from the temple and some local VHP leaders left for the spot.
*By then, the five had sought refuge at the police post. The word spread in at least 10 nearby villages, and in an hour, the crowd swelled to 2,000.
"Local VHP workers and some anti-social elements were spotted at the scene," says District Commissioner Mohinder Kumar, who claims he reached late because of a traffic jam. "The word spread by telephone, word of mouth and of course a tractor full of people returning from the fair stopped."
Local VHP office-bearers dare the police to take action. "If they can kill our mother then what if we kill our brothers who kill her," says Mahendra Parmanand, the priest of the local temple. "I will say it in front of the police that what they were doing was wrong and they deserve to be punished," says Ramesh Saini, VHP office-bearer.
Shishu Pal from the local Shiv Sena unit says that whatever happened was wrong but "could not have been helped."
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=11454

15 October 2002

Dalit beaten to death in UP

Press Trust of India

Bahraich, October 15
A dalit was lynched by irate villagers of Bhawaniapur Banghusari near the Indo-Nepal border for allegedly poisioning a buffalo, area Superintendent of Police, PP Srivastava said on Tuesday.

4 October 2002

Dalits under siege

(Opinion: Praful Bidwai)

The site is Chakwara village, in Jaipur’s Phagi tehsil, which has witnessed unrelieved tension between the Bairwa Dalits and savarna Hindus for years. This culminated in a violent confrontation between the savarnas and the police on September 21, in which more than 50 people, including 44 policemen, were injured. If you saw that episode on television, you couldn’t have missed the near-fascist inspiration of the rioting caste-Hindus, driven by base passion, visceral prejudice and a consuming lust for power and (now-threatened) privilege.

Siau case: summons for Kang, Mewa Singh
Tribune

Ropar, October 4
Mr Ravinder Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) here, today issued orders to summon Kiranbir Singh Kang, a senior leader of the youth wing of the SAD, and Mewa Singh, both accused in the Siau murder case, on November 6 as both have been evading arrest following non-bailable warrants of arrest issued by the court against them on September 7.
In the Siau murder case, the bodies of two minor Dalit children were found floating in a pond of Siau village, near Kharar, on June 22 last year. Mr Dhani Ram, father of one of the two deceased children, had filed a criminal complaint in the court against Kang and others under Sections 302, 201, 120-B and 34 of the IPC to initiate legal proceedings in the case.

1 October 2002

Survey calls Naidu's Dalit bluff


A recently-concluded study by the Committee Against Caste Discrimination (CACD), a non-governmental agency, proves that the government had talked too loudly and too soon. Nothing had changed for the Dalits.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/2002/Oct/01/printedition/011002/detNAT02.shtml


SEPTEMBER
29 - 30 September 2002

Dalit woman dragged naked in public
(Punjab)
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sept30/idalit.htm

28 September 2002

Harijan woman paraded naked for talking with another man

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_73644,0008.htm

24 September 2002

Dalits seek conversion escape route
(Jaipur)

Bairwas (Dalits of the cobbler caste) are living in terror after upper caste villagers clashed with police in Phagi on Saturday to stop a Dalit yatra against untouchability. “Please do not ask about details ... we will decide in two or three days ... we want to save ourselves from upper-caste violence,” said Mr Hari S Bairwa.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2002-09-24&clid=1&id=2665

22 - 23 September 2002

Dalit woman paraded naked in U.P.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/09/22/stories/2002092205531000.htm

Over 30 injured in mob-police clash in Jaipur

Over 30 people, including 20 policemen, were injured when agitated upper caste people clashed with police and in the subsequent firing following Dalits' plan to enter a temple which was thwarted by the upper castes' protest in Jaipur.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=22889669

Editor booked for rape
Tribune

Kapurthala, September 22
The Sadar Police today registered a case against Harwinder Singh Bawa, Editor of a Punjabi monthly, the UPI Sandesh, publised from Aujula village, on a charge of raping a Dalit girl of Chuharwal village.
In a report lodged with the police, the girl alleged that about 10 days ago, Harwinder Singh Bawa and his wife Sarabjit Kaur promised her parents that they would get her a government job, if she accompanied them to their house in Aujula. The parents agreed. It was in their house, that the accused allegedly raped her a number of times. The girl was saved by her relatives on Saturday.

21 September 2002

Dalits pay for temple refuge
(Patna)

Atrocities against Dalits continue to haunt Bihar with three members of the community being assaulted in Kaimur district for entering a Shiva temple.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020921/asp/nation/story_1219987.asp

32 hurt as dalit demonstrators clash with police in Rajasthan
Press Trust of India

Jaipur, September 21
At least 32 people, including a Superintendent of Police and 14 other policemen, were injured when a group of dalits protesting alleged denial of access to a pond and a temple by the upper castes in a Rajasthan village, clashed with police about 40 kms from here on Saturday.
State Home Minister Gulab Singh Shaktawat said while two of the injured sustained bullet wounds, 15 policemen were injured in stone pelting by the dalits and equal number of protestors when police fired rubber bullets to disperse them.
Trouble started this morning when hundreds of dalits began a march from Chaksu to Chakwara village, where they alleged the upper caste people were not allowing them to enter a temple, a public pond and were enforcing social and economic boycott of Bairwas.
As police tried to stop them at Phagi road, in between Chaksu and Chakwara, they pelted stones on them injuring 15 policemen, including an SP, and damaging a police vehicle. The protestors gheraoed a police station demanding permission to proceed with the march prompting police to fire rubber bullets in which 15 people from the mob were injured. As rubber bullets failed to disperse the demonstrators, police opened fire in which one person was hit on the leg and one in his hand, Shaktawat said.
He said prohibitory orders have been clamped and additional police force rushed to the area to maintain law and order. Efforts were also being made to organise a meeting of the dalits with the upper caste people of Chakwara.

Caste cauldron on boil (Jaipur)

Hundreds of Dalits are on their way to Chakwara, 60 km from Jaipur, to bathe in the village pond and offer prayers at the village temple on Saturday-something they are prevented from doing so. About 7,000 upper caste people have assembled in the village and blocked access to the temple.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/2002/Sep/21/printedition/210902/detNAT14.shtml

15 - 16 September 2002

Dalit farmer asked to drink urine
(Madurai)
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2002-09-15&clid=2&id=1987

14 September 2002

Dalit labourer asked to drink urine

Press Trust of India

Madurai, September 14
A Dalit farm labourer was allegedly tortured and asked to drink urine following a land dispute between him and a caste Hindu at Kavundanpatti near Nilakottai in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul district on September 7.
According to a complaint lodged by Dalit labourer Sangan, who was working in the estate of one Ashokan for the past 30 years, he was asked to get out of the estate recently.
The estate owner had orally promised to sell 1.5 acre of land to Sangan and three of his brothers, and had deducted the land money in instalments from the wages to be paid to Sangan for the past 30 years. Sangan and his brothers were occupying the land.
Meanwhile, the complaint said, Ashokan had divided the land, which Sangan was occupying, into eleven plots and had sold them. While the buyers of ten of the plots had vacated the plots after dispute with Ashokan, one Kannan continued to occupy the eleventh plot and there were frequent quarrels between Kannan and Sangan.
Sangan alleged that Kannan and six others took him to a lonely place on September 7 and beat him up. Later they asked him to drink urine, Sangan said.
Meanwhile, police said there was no documentary evidence for the sale of land to Sangan.

10 - 11 September 2002

Upper caste jailbirds strike against sharing kitchen with Dalits

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sept10/n14.htm

Atrocities on Dalits
Govt has not taken adequate action: DSS
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/sept10/d4.htm

8 - 9 September 2002

Atrocities on Dalits: Forum warns of agitation

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=11&cat2=58&newsid=19054

4 September 2002

50 Dalits forced to vacate houses

Varinder Singh

Tribune, Mehru (Jalandhar), September 4
Nearly 50 Dalit families have been driven out of their houses by the administration and the police allegedly for voting for the SAD-BJP which had built them 12 one-room pucca houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana, when the combine ruled the state.
The victims, alleged that they were forced out of their houses by the administration at the behest of a panchayat member belonging to the ruling Congress party. They now are putting up in small tents in front of their houses after having been thrown out by Block Development and Panchayat officials, who descended on the village on August 27 along with 36 police officials.
Showing the panchayat resolution, Dalit families alleged that they were cheated by the department officials and some panchayat members, who had made them sign some documents under police pressure showing that they were vacating the houses for repair. “They had threatened us to either vacate the houses or face beating at the hands of armed policemen who accompanied them in three vehicles. What could we do except bow to their wishes?” rued Satnam Singh, a Dalit, who added that all families putting up in the houses had ration cards. Satnam Singh alleged that at the time of the occupation of the houses, officials of the Block Development and Panchayat Office, Nakodar, had forced every family to shell out Rs 2,000 as bribe money.

Doctor delays post-mortem, angers villagers (Bhopal)

Public fury against a Government doctor who failed to act promptly and conduct post-mortem on a Dalit youth -- whose body was found hanging two days back -- led to police firing on a mob of protesters yesterday in which three persons were killed and nearly two dozen injured.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/09/04/stories/2002090406940500.htm

2 September 2002

Panchayat blacklists Dalits

Jangveer Singh

Tribune, Moondkheri (Patiala), September 2
Dalits protesting against having been made bonded labourers in this village have been penalised by the panchayat. As many as 15 of them have been blacklisted and lists of the names have been distributed among all traders including milkmen in the village as well as the nearby half a dozen villages.
Traders are in a fix, with the panchayat and the Baba Shampuri Sports Club, which has jointly issued the directive, fining one shopkeeper Rs 2,000 for selling 2 kg of sugar to one of the blacklisted persons. The traders have been warned that they will face social boycott in case they serve any of the Dalits who have been identified in the lists.
The panchayat and the club took this action against the Dalits after a Phillaur-based organisation, working for the cause of bonded labourers, served legal notices on many lanbdlords of the village, charging them with helping the Dalits as bonded labourers.
The persons who have been affected by the panchayat decision say their life has become hell. Jagar Singh, one of the affected persons, said seven of the local milkmen had stopped selling milk to them. He said the lists had also been distributed among neighbouring villages to flour mill owners and shopkeepers to ensure that they could not buy any essential item from them.
Landowners are, however, emphatic that this has been done to identify “mischief makers” in the village because they had filed false complaints against various landlords. They said all 15 Dalits had taken money in advance in lieu of their payments for the whole year or for six months and had stopped working claiming that they were being made bonded labourers.


AUGUST
31 August 2002

Separate police stations to try cases of atrocities
(Hyderabad)

The State Government is toying with the idea of setting up a police station in every district, exclusively to deal with cases relating to atrocities on those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and a special court for every two districts.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/08/31/stories/2002083103560300.htm

27 August 2002

Rampage in UP village after Dalit girl’s rape


A mob blocked the Delhi-Saharanpur highway and gheraoed the local police station on Monday, after a 19-year-old Dalit girl was gangraped and then hacked to death.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=20299911

U.N. panel condemns caste (AP)

The United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) has condemned the descent-based discrimination practised as caste in India and passed a resolution against it.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/08/27/stories/2002082703201200.htm

24 August 2002

Six trade tax officials booked for action against Dalit

Parmindar Singh

Tribune, Ghaziabad, August 24 2002
On explicit instructions of the government, a case has been filed in the Vijay Nagar police station against six trade tax officials for allegedly barging into the house of a Dalit, looting his valuables and showering caste invectives on the inmates.
Ram Ratti, wife of Het Ram of Krishan Nagar Baggu, stated in her report last night that trade tax officers B. P. Singh, Sanjeev Rai, Sanjeev Mohan, V. Singh, R. K. Pandit and Manoj Tripathi had looted Rs 30,000, a gold ring, a cell phone and other valuables from her house on August 4. The officials had also allegedly used abusive language, beaten them up and taken Ram Ratti's son Raj Kumar along with them. Then, they had demanded some money for releasing him. Police sources said that this report had been registered on clear instructions from the government high-ups.
According to some officials, who did not wish to be identified, the administration had allegedly pressurised the police to register a fudged case against the government officials simply because the accused happened to be a Dalit.

23 August 2002

Minor Dalit girl gangraped in Kanpur


A 14-year-old Dalit girl was gangraped by four persons in Behta Bujurg village in Ghatampur police circle here on Wednesday night.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=19903181

A misnomer for Dalit raaj
(Opinion Deepak Verma)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=19902410

22 August 2002

Three Dalits brutally murdered
(UP)

In a gory incident, three Dalits including a 12-year-old boy, belonging to the Pasi community, were found brutally murdered on the banks of Sharda Sahayak Nahar at Balsingh Khera village in Nagram, 40 km from the city on Wednesday.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=19803288

20 August 2002

Persecuted Dalits protest
(AP)

About 120 Dalit families of Mittamanupalle village in Mydukur mandal are facing a social boycott, denied work and prevented from entering the main village or agricultural fields ever since they were attacked and their hutments burnt on July 23.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/08/20/stories/2002082003510400.htm

Attack on Dalit: DM orders probe
Tribune

Mansa, August 20
Mr Karamjit Singh in his complaint alleged that a Dalit farm labourer of Mojo Khurd village was injured after he was attacked by a landlord with a spade. Though the injured Balbir Singh was admitted to hospital, he was not being given proper treatment at the Civil Hospital.
He alleged that the police in connivance with a section of Civil Hospital officials was trying to hush up the matter.
He said Balbir Singh was bonded labourer and his organisation was trying to get him freed from the clutches of the landlord. He also demanded that the medical examination of Balbir Singh should be conducted by a board of doctors and his statement recorded only in the presence of a responsible officer.

13 August 2002

Dalit family saved from bondage

Tribune

Faridkot, August 13 2002
Life for 33-year-old Dalit Atma Singh, a resident of Hassan Bhatti village became hell when he took an advance of Rs 17,000 from a landlord of this district. In return he agreed to work for him as farm assistant.
Ms Prabhjot Kaur, programme officer, Volunteers for Social Justice, talking to TNS here today, alleged while Atma Singh was repeatedly beaten up by his landlord, his family members were denied food. The organisation had to approach the District Magistrate and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for securing the release of five members of Atma Singh’s family from bondage.
She said Atma Singh took an advance of Rs 17,000 from the landlord when he joined his services in March 2002. The landlord started charging 5 per cent interest on the amount advanced. Atma Singh was made to pay Rs 100 as penalty for any day when he failed to come to work. The penalty sum was added to the bondage debt amount. When Atma Singh suffered injuries after falling from a scooter and expressed his inability to do work, he was beaten up severely by the landlord, which forced him to flee.
She said the organisation moved a complaint with the NHRC and approached the Deputy Commissioner. The family members of Atma Singh, his wife Sukhmander Kaur (30) and four children, Mandeep Kaur (9), Gulwinder Singh (7), Parveen Kaur (5) years and Nirbhai Singh (2), were released from bondage yesterday.
She alleged that no action had been taken against the landlord so far by the authorities concerned.

12 August 2002

NH-58 blocked for 5 hrs after Dalit’s murder

Our Correspondent, Tribune

Meerut, August 12 2002
Several angry villagers of the Dalit community today protested against the police over the death of a poor villager of the Scheduled Caste community. They were also shouting slogans against a particular caste. They felt that the members of that caste were involved in the killing of the Dalit. The villagers staged a demonstration, laying out the body on National Highway 58, which connects New Delhi to Uttaranchal.

8 August 2002

Dalits seek CBI probe into DSS leader's murder
(Karnataka)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/08/08/stories/2002080806580400.htm

Three members of a dalit family killed
Press Trust of India

Ara (Bihar), August 08
Three members of a Dalit family were shot dead by unidentified assailants at village Arora in Bhojpur district, police said today. District police superintendent Ashok Kumar Verma told PTI that armed miscreants raided a house at the village under Udvant Nagar police station last night and killed a man, his wife and their son.
Old enmity was believed to be the reason behind the killing, Verma said. Raids were being conducted at various places to arrest the killers, he added.

7 August 2002

Protest against desecration of Ambedkar statue: Police resort to lathicharge in Hassan

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug07/s1.htm

4 - 5 August 2002

A Dalit damned for defying her village
(Tiruchi)

The 27-year-old Dalit woman, Azhagammal, of Padaminchi hamlet near Ulagampatti village in Sivaganga, lives in fear. Surviving a brutal police assault and harassment at the hands of a caste Hindu-dominated 'oor' (local) panchayat, Azhagammal, who works as a noon meal worker, has been forced to shift her residence to Tiruchi, where she lives under the protection of a group of women activists.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/08/04/stories/2002080401450500.htm

2 August 2002

Tiruchi Dalits starve for refusing to swallow insult


Dalits in Tiruchi district’s Thinniyam village who had alleged that upper caste men forced them to eat faeces now say they are paying for complaining with a job boycott.
http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=6985


JULY
31 July 2002

Dalit girl hurls slipper at judge

HT Correspondent

Raipur, July 31
Angry at the acquittal of her alleged rapist by a court, a Dalit girl hurled a slipper at a district judge in a courtroom here on Tuesday. The girl was reportedly angry because the man who had allegedly raped her two years ago was acquitted last week in the same court. The incident occurred around 1 pm when the 18-year old petitioner Laxmi Khute, daughter of Karan Das Khute of Mohra village under Suhela police station arrived with her father at the court of special judge Sandeep Bakshi to inquire about the decision in her case. When Laxmi came to know that the accused in the rape case, Poshan Verma, was acquitted of the charge, she reportedly forced her way inside the court while the proceedings of another case were on, took out a slipper and hurled it towards the judge.

28 July 2002

The evil system won't tumble down

By S. Annamalai and S. Vijay Kumar

Chennai July 28. Despite police action against the practice of untouchability in tea shops of rural Tamil Nadu, several shopkeepers, under pressure from caste Hindus, continue with the discriminatory "two-tumbler" system. In the caste-riven State, tea shops in several villages do not serve just hot beverages but also trade untouchability in "two tumblers"- cheap glass ones for the Dalits and shiny stainless steel containers for the caste Hindus. And now, a "three-tumbler" system too is adopted in some areas- plastic cups for outsiders whose caste identity is not known.
The Tirunelveli police arrested a shopowner yesterday for offering tea in a glass tumbler to Dalits and in shiny stainless steel containers to caste Hindus.

16 July 2002

Dalit women raped, paraded naked
(Jharkhand)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/07/16/stories/2002071603931100.htm

Hazaribagh July 15. In a shocking incident, two dalit women were gang-raped, stripped naked and paraded in Sudan village in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand on Friday, according to an official report here today.
Kasia Devi and her daughter-in-law, Basanti, were raped by the henchmen of a businessman, Rameshwar Modi, for their refusal to part with a small plot of land, the DSP, Hemand Toppo, told PTI. The women's faces were also smeared with lime and cow dung.
A team from Barkattha police station, which visited the village on receipt of information, was chased away by the hoodlums. However, a much larger police contingent arrived in the village the following day and arrested one of the accused.

Dalit woman’s house burnt (Kanpur)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=16104247

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2002 01:08:53 AM ]
KANPUR: The house of a Dalit woman caught fire under mysterious circumstances in Raigopalpur village falling under Chaubepur police circle in the wee hours of Monday. The woman alleged that her house was set ablaze by opponents following an old political rivalry. According to reports, woman identified as Shyama Devi along with her minor daughter named Maina suffered burn injuries in the incident.
Reports said that a fire broke out at Shyama Devi’s house in Raigopalpur village under Chaubepur police circle under mysterious circumstances at around 3 pm. The woman claimed that her opponents had set ablaze her house and a number of house-hold items were burnt. It was reported that the husband of the woman was sent to jail last month.

Probe ordered into ‘torture’ of budding cricketer (Bangalore)

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Subhash Bharani today said that he has directed the Kodagu Superintendent of Police to personally conduct an inquiry into the alleged torture of a teenage Dalit boy from Suntikoppa taluk in the district.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july16/ct2.htm

12 July 2002

Six Dalit houses burnt, 3 held
(UP)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=15700638

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2002 12:05:34 AM ]
BHAGALPUR: Following a heated exchange of words, six houses belonging to Dalits were reduced to ashes by armed miscreants late on Wednesday evening at Sakhichak Harijan Tola in Bishanpur village under the Shambhuganj police station of Banka district. Two persons also received injuries when the criminals opened fire.
Confirming the incident, Banka SP Jaglal Chowdhary told TNN over phone on Thursday that nearly 20 armed miscreants belonging to a particular upper caste attacked the houses of the Dalits when most of the inmates had gone to see off a girl of their village who had been married early on Monday.
He further said that as soon as the police got information, he along with DM and other officials concerned rushed to the spot.
According to the SP, foodgrains and other household items kept in the houses were burnt while two pigs and one goat fell victims to the fire. A case has been registered against the criminals in connection with the incident. Three of the named accused were arrested on Wednesday.

7 - 8 July 2002

Caste wars rock Orissa again

Ashutosh Mishra/Bhubaneswar
http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives1/secon3.asp?cat=\state3&d=STATES&fdnam=jul702

Orissa's caste cauldron is simmering again with dalits of Brahmagiri in Puri district locking horns with the upper caste of khandayats out to grab their land. The war turned gory last week when hundreds of khandayats (kshatriyas) attacked the low caste kandras and bauris of Gadkokal village under Brahmagiri block while the latter were tending their 14-acre Bhoodan-donated land.
Three dalits, Nakul Bhoi, Duryodhan Bhoi and Banmali Bhoi, were admitted to different hospitals after receiving serious injuries while many others escaped with minor wounds.
Ironically, while the police is reported to have arrested some dalits in connection with the incident, the alleged upper caste goons are still roaming free.
Stung by the partisan role of the police and the administration, the dalits, now organised under the banner of Ambedkar-Lohia Vichar Manch, are planning to stage a dharna outside the Puri collector's office on Monday. The dharna would be the underdogs' declaration of full-fledged war against their tormentors.
The land, which has become the bone of contention, was donated to the dalit families at Gadkokal during the Bhoodan movement more than two decades ago.
Initially they sought to grow paddy on the land but frequent waterlogging soon forced them to consider the much more lucrative option of prawn cultivation which is still the rage in Puri district.
It was, perhaps, the success of prawn farming which drew the ire of the upper castes who began claiming that the land was disputed and belonged as much to the dalits as anybody else. The fact that it was Bhoodan-donated land made the matters worse for the dalits.
Shantilata Bhoi, wife of injured Shyam Sunder Bhoi, now cooling his heels in jail, said her castemen were caught between the twin batteries of upper caste persecution and police indifference.
While the officer-in-charge of Brahmagiri police station refused to entertain their complaint in the wake of the incident, even the superintendent of police and the district collector did not evince much interest in the case. "We are being forcibly evicted from our own land and on top of that the police are siding with the goons. What can be worse?" she asked, her eyes brimming.
Incidentally, this is not the first instance of a dalit-upper caste confrontation in Brahmagiri which has turned into a cockpit between the two sides for the last few years.
Not long ago, the area was in news when the savarnas ripped through a marriage pandal set up by the scheduled castes who were then saddled with a plethora of criminal cases in an obvious bid to break their spirit.


SUMMARY of Digest of Newspaper-reported Atrocities against Dalits


India Committee of the Netherlands / Landelijke India Werkgroep - April 2, 2003