Why are Dalits asking permission from CM Shivraj Chouhan to end their lives? – Read

Bhopal: Scores of Dalit households in Sehore in Madhya Pradesh have reportedly sought permission from Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan to end their lives, amid concerns over alleged atrocities against the community.

They have claimed that their lands have been occupied by hooligans and they have no other option to sustain our livelihood. ANI reported that some 50 Dalit families in Sehore is waiting for the chief minister's nod for euthanasia.

“If Govt can't give our land back, at least give us “mukti”,” the report on Monday quoted one of the victims as saying.

The Dalit households have alleged that the land granted to them 15 years ago by the state government has been occupied by goons.

The families belong to Nasrullahganj area in Budhni, the assembly constituency of Chouhan and had two days ago sent a memorandum to the chief minister’s office in Bhopal in this regard.

However, district authorities denied receiving any such complaint and said a case in this regard was being being heard in court.

“These families of Borkhedi, Vasudev, Sohankhedi and Jogala villages under Nasrullaganj police station area of Budhni in Sehore, the home district of Chouhan, have signed a memorandum that they have not yet got the tracts of government land given to them as help 15 years ago as it was in possession of influential persons,” Rashtriya Dalit Chetna Manch state secretary Jaswant Singh said.

“We have not yet got the land in possession of musclemen, who are threatening to eliminate us,” said the memorandum signed by the Dalit families.

The local administration is helpless and the Dalits were not getting justice even after staging protests and agitation, Singh claimed.

“These oppressed people are living in abject poverty as they do not have any source of income. Therefore, they have sought to end their lives (mercy killing),” he added.

Sources said the agricultural tracts were allotted to these families by the then Digivijaya Singh government in the state.

“No complaint of such a nature has come to me. If it comes to me, certainly action will be taken into it immediately,” PTI quoted Sehore District Collector Sudam Khade as saying.