Rights body is going to take serious note of offences against community and police inaction in cases of atrocities against Dalits.
Labhu Rajapara, 42, a Dalit in Golasan village in Surendranagar district of Gujarat, had no idea that his son's love affair with an upper caste girl could wreak havoc on his entire family. Six people allegedly burnt his house in December 2010 and the family still has no place to live in.
On April 13 this year, Rajesh Parmar, 18, a Dalit boy originally from Bhavnagar, was reportedly abducted and found dead the next day on the railway tracks at Lathidad railway station. Barwala police (Ahmedabad district) sub-inspector is said to have spoken to the abductor, but nothing was done to save Rajesh. A case of accidental death was lodged later.
These are just two examples of atrocity and violation of human rights against Dalits from a list of 28 serious offences in which the police reportedly did not act. Considering the gravity of these cases, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked senior police officers and state government officials to clarify their stand on the issue in four weeks.
The cases had been submitted to the NHRC by Navsarjan, a city-based NGO working for the betterment of Dalits. The commission chose 28 cases of serious crimes committed against Dalits. These cases include offences like murder, rape and kidnapping.
"We had sent these complaints to the commission in view of the gross human rights violation against Dalits. People from the community have to suffer a lot because of the atrocities; besides, criminal offences are also committed against them.
In the case of Labhu Rajapara, his son's love destroyed his whole family. The police were reluctant to lodge a complaint despite the fact that the whole house was burnt down," said Kantilal Parmar, state coordinator, Navsarjan.
These notices have been issued to the director-general of police (DGP), superintendents of police of Kutch, Surendranagar and Mehsana, and the state chief secretary.
When contacted, in-charge DGP Chittaranjan Singh said he was not aware of the development and passed the buck to additional director-general of police (ADGP) Deepak Swaroop. But Swaroop said he did not hold the charge anymore.
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