From: Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC <pmarc2008@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Subject: [PMARC] Dalits Media Watch - News Updates 01.02.10
To: Dalits Media Watch <PMARC@dgroups.org>
Dalits Media Watch
News Updates 1.02.10
Dalit student commits suicide in UP - Express Buzz
SC panel seeks report on Dalit girl's death - The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100201/punjab.htm#10
Statement of rape victim recorded - The Tribune
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100201/punjab.htm#13
`Police must handle dalit cases with respect' - Times Of India
SC team visit Kendrapada to discuss mid-day meal - Times Of India
Mangalore: Police accused of taking complaints lightly - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020164480300.htm
Protest against proposal on reservation - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020160480600.htm
New hostel for SC/ST college girls coming up - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020158590300.htm
Lives of Dalits have improved: Minister - The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020157200300.htm
Express Buzz
Dalit student commits suicide in UP
Last Updated :
LUCKNOW: An FIR under provisions of the SC/ST Act and Section 306 of the IPC has been lodged against three professors of the Chhatrapati Sahu Ji Maharaj Medical University following suicide by a Dalit student, who was allegedly failed for three consecutive years in the subject of pharmacology.
The student, Sushil Chaudhary of Gorakhpur, failed in pharmacology three times in a row, and after sending an SMS to his father, consumed poison on Saturday night.
The incident came to light on Sunday.
In the SMS, Sushil had written that there had been sustained discrimination against him and the failure in the same subject had left him tired and he was ending his life.
His father Dhruva Nath Chaudhary said that Sushil had claimed several times that the professors, Dr S K Das, Dr S P Singh and Dr K K Pant, had conspired to fail him in the subject by giving three to five marks only because of being a Dalit. Several of his friends corroborated the allegation.
However, kin of the deceased and Dalit sympathisers held sit-in at the residence of the Vice-
Chancellor, Dr Saroj Choonamani Gopal, alleging caste discrimination as the reason behind the suicide and threatened not to perform the last rites of the victim until the arrest of the missing professors. Dr Gopal, however, denied any discrimination against the student.
The police had been accused of dillydallying the matter while the kin were initially demanding registration of an FIR but by the time it was registered, the protest had grown louder.
The Tribune
SC panel seeks report on Dalit girl's death
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100201/punjab.htm#10
Tribune News Service
Moga, January 31
Reacting to a report published in these columns about a Dalit girl's death, the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked the district welfare officer to visit the house of the deceased and send a detailed report by Monday. Members of the commission Dalip Singh Pandhi and Parkash Singh Garhdiwal expressed concern over the increasing cases of atrocities on Dalits in the district and the "insensitive" attitude of the administration in probing such cases.
Pandhi said the recent incident appeared to be a case of murder and the police should register a criminal case and also impose the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, against the employers of the girl. He said the investigation of this case should be handed over to a police officer not less than the rank of a DSP as per rule 7(1)[10] of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995.
The panel members further said: "We will take up the matter in the commission's office at Chandigarh on Monday and issue appropriate directions to the district magistrate in this regard to provide justice to the aggrieved family."
Veerpal Kaur , working as a domestic help in the house of an influential Jat Sikh family at Moga, died under mysterious circumstances yesterday.
The Tribune
Statement of rape victim recorded
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100201/punjab.htm#13
Jalandhar, January 31
The Hoshiarpur police has started inquiry into the rape case of a minor Dalit girl on January 19 and subsequently detaining the victim and her mother at the Sadar police station here for the entire night on January 23.
DIG (Jalandhar Range) Ishwar Singh had handed over the probe to a three-member panel, headed by SSP Pramod Ban, on January 28 after the family of the victim had raised questions about the fairness of the probe by the police.
Hoshiarpur SP (Detective) Susheel Kumar and ASP Garshankar Inderbir Singh visited the residence of the victim today. They recorded the statement of the victim and her parents. — TNS
Times Of India
`Police must handle dalit cases with respect'
TNN, 31 January 2010, 09:04pm IST
MANGALORE: Majority of the complaints from the SC/ST community members raised at the SC/ST grievances meeting held here on Sunday was against the police department. Dalit organization leaders suggested awareness programmes on courtesy and human relations for the lower rank police personnel.
Dalit leaders including Nirmal Kumar, A S Ananda and others brought to the notice of the district Superintendent of Police A S Rao several incidents where the police did not cooperate in filing cases under the SC/ST Atrocities Act or insulted dalit leaders or members when they approached police stations. They also suggested conducting meetings at the dalit colonies instead of police stations.
Kumar said the police need to be sensitized on dealing with dalits. Rao conceded that it was not a welcome development that the SC/STs were upset with the police. He said the cases brought to his notice at the meeting would be investigated. At the same time steps would be taken to bring in reforms among the police personnel, he said and added that sensitizing the police was a long term process. The issues would be taken up at the refresher course to be held in February, he added.
About the SC/ST grievances meetings not being held regularly at police stations, he said of the 28 stations in the district he had received reports only from one police station. The matter would be looked into seriously, he said.
Times Of India
SC team visit Kendrapada to discuss mid-day meal
TNN, 31 January 2010, 09:20pm IST
KENDRAPADA: A team of Supreme Court state advisers were shocked to find schoolchildren refusing to eat the mid-day meal cooked by Dalit cooks at Sanamarichapali village in Kendrapada's Rajnagar block.
The team on right to food was in the village after reports that upper caste villagers have prevented two Dalit women from cooking the school meal.
"We spoke to many villagers, including the schoolchildren. We were shocked when some children belonging to the upper caste told us that they will not eat the food cooked by a Dalit," a team member Samet Panda said.
On Tuesday, many students belonging to the upper caste refused to eat mid-day meal cooked by two Dalit women in Ma Sidha Marichani Nodal school. Some upper caste people also forcibly locked both the Dalit cooks, Ketaki Sethi and Sebati Sethi, in a room when they refused to quit their job as cooks. "Niranjan Pradhan, a member of village education committee (VEC) and some villagers abused and locked us in a school room on Tuesday," alleged Ketaki Sethi.
The Ma Ambika Self Help Group (SHG) was entrusted the task of providing mid-day meal to students. Initially, the SHG appointed two upper caste women as cooks. But replaced than with Ketaki Sethi and Sebati Sethi.
"The Supreme Court in an interim order on April 20, 2004 had stated that cooks belonging to SC and ST should be given priority in cooking the mid-day meals," the state advisor of Supreme Court on right to food, Rajkishor Mishra, said.
"Police are shielding those who prevented the Dalits from cooking in the school," president of the district unit of Orissa Dalit Mancha Nagendra Jena said.
"Police have filed case against Niranjan Pradhan under SC and ST Atrocity (Prevention ) Act . All the culprits will be arrested soon," said the police officer of Rajnagar police station.
Contacted, district collector Sishirkanta Panda, told this paper that "Social discrimination will not be allowed under any circumstance. We have started a probe into the matter and will take necessary action."
The Hindu
Mangalore: Police accused of taking complaints lightly
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020164480300.htm
MANGALORE Feb 1: Police personnel were charged with not taking complaints of Dalits seriously at the monthly grievance meeting for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, held at the district police headquarters here on Sunday.
Dalit leaders charged that some police officers were often trivialising the complaints filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and harassed those who questioned them.
Some leaders alleged that the police station-level grievance meetings for SC/STs were not held regularly, and in some cases the police were collecting signatures from some persons to prove that meetings were conducted.
Superintendent of Police A.S. Rao asked the circle inspectors present at the meeting to reign in their personnel. "It is a matter of concern that in today's meeting, a majority of complaints are not against caste Hindus but against the police, who are supposed to protect the vulnerable sections," he said.
He said that in February, a special sensitisation drive would be conducted for police personnel in the district. "A seven-day refresher course is planned for the police in February. We will include a half-day module to sensitise the police about Dalit issues," he said.
District president of the samiti S.P. Ananda drew attention to the alleged slow pace of investigation into what he termed murder of Rajappa on October 2, 2008 at an agricultural estate, owned by the wife of former district in-charge Minister B. Nagaraj Shetty.
Alleging that the case was being hushed up owing to political pressure, he said the wife of the deceased had complained that the death had been "made to appear as a suicide" but it was "actually a murder". The complainant charged a worker in the estate with committing the murder. Mr. Rao invited the Dalit leaders for a discussion on the case and said that investigations would be speeded up.
The Hindu
Protest against proposal on reservation
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020160480600.htm
Staff Reporter
Accusing the student organisations in the campus of doublespeak, the PDSU claimed that while the student organisations had supported the reservation policy, yet in actual practice they had not done the needful. The PDSU said that the involvement of the various student organisations on the campus was necessary to fight the allegedly discriminatory hierarchy.
The Hindu
New hostel for SC/ST college girls coming up
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020158590300.htm
Staff Reporter
"A new road has been laid between Paramanandhal and Amirthi via Melpattu at a cost of Rs.55 crore; Beema Falls development works and park work were carried out at a cost of Rs.6 crore; steps were taken to renovate Arunachaleswarar temple, Kovilur, belonging to 14th Century B.C. with the help of the Department of Archaeology," Mr. Rajendran said.
"Kal Nattuputhur, Sathanur and Mel Puzhuthiyur were chosen last year for development works in Adi Dravidar hamlets.
Roads were laid and community halls constructed at a cost of Rs. 45 lakh.
Member of Parliament T. Venugopal, District Revenue Officer S. Viswanathan, District Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Officer K.S. Vaasan, tahsildars P. Subramanian, K. Elangovan and Viswanathan were present.
The Hindu
Lives of Dalits have improved: Minister
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/01/stories/2010020157200300.htm
Staff Reporter
| Dr. Ambedkar National Awards presented |
Thrissur: Union Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas has said that Dalits are increasingly enjoying their rightful share of power in society. He was addressing a meeting here on Sunday to present the Dr. Ambedkar National Awards, instituted by the All-India Confederation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Organisations.
"The lives of Dalits have improved considerably. Still, a lot more remains to be done for the empowerment of Dalits," he said.
K.V. Babu, preventive officer with the Excise Department; Anil Pottakattu, president of the Workers' Cooperative Bank, Nadathara; Nandanan Kannattuparambil, agricultural assistant, Erumapetty; and A. Narayanankutty, vice-president of Thrikkur Grama Panchayat; received the awards.
P.C. Chacko, MP; Therambil Ramakrishnan, MLA; T.V. Chandramohan and M.K. Paulson, former MLAs; were present.
Earlier, Punnala Sreekumar, State general secretary of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha, inaugurated a seminar on 'Ambedkarism and Ranganath Misra Commission report'.
--
.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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