Dalits approach SC commission for `justice`

Rohtak (Haryana): Members of the Dalit community in Jahangirpur village have approached National Commission for Scheduled Caste for "justice", two days after they were allegedly stopped from performing Holi Pooja and assaulted by members of upper caste. "Dissatisfied" with the police action into the alleged assault, community members today shot off a letter to the commission. The community members have demanded immediate registration of a case against the accused besides providing them security cover to avoid any untoward incident. On March 27, Schedule Caste (SC) families were allegedly stopped from performing Holi Pooja and assaulted by the members of upper caste. Shyam Lal, one of the victims, said, "We have no other option but to approach the NCSC to get justice in this situation when no one is coming ahead to help. "We have lodged written complaint about the incident and also met Jhajjar SP Anil Dhawan for getting a criminal case registered against the accused but no firm action has so far been taken in this regard." Lal claimed that all the Dalit families are living in the state of trauma since after the assault. "We are not able to muster courage to go outside our homes as the accused have been threatening us of dire consequences," he said. Jhajjar SP Anil Dhawan could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts to get information about police action into the matter. The victim said they will leave the village if the accused were not arrested soon. "We are poor and cannot earn our livelihood by sitting at homes following the panic being spread by the accused," he said. The Dalits in their complaint to police have alleged that people of the upper caste not only misbehaved with women of their families by using derogatory remarks but also restrained them from performing Holi Pooja on Tuesday. The women and children were also manhandled when they resisted the act, they alleged. Significantly, people of the upper caste have also lodged a similar complaint alleging that Dalits have assaulted them. Representatives of various Dalit organisations had met Jhajjar SP Anil Dhawan yesterday demanding registration of criminal cases against the accused. Rajesh Shastri, a leader of Chamar Sangharsh Samiti and secretary, Jan Sahara Samiti, said they "will not sit till the accused are arrested under SC/ST Act". "The victims are not satisfied with the police action as it has neither registered a case against the accused nor arrested them despite after three days of the incident. "We will not tolerate this irresponsible attitude of the police and will meet Union ministers belonging to Schedule Castes to get justice," said Shastri.

PTI