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A
fifty-five-year-old Dalit belonging to Fattepur Chaurasi village in
Unnao district had, on December 20 last, lost his life while trying to
save his two daughters-in-law modesty from being outraged by a few upper
caste goons of the same village. The brave man lost his life but saved
izzat of his daughters-in-law. The horrific incident is not an isolated
case as atrocities against Dalits are unabated even after their
'czarina' Mayawati took over as the state chief minister nine months
back. Busy with her iconisation
as champion of Dalits across India, Mayawati has apparently failed to
check the incidents of atrocities against people of her own caste, on
her home turf. A priest thrashing Dalit youths on Tuesday last for
entering temple at Gangapur village in Kalyanpur is just a reminder to
the excesses being committed against Dalits. As if the unabated
tormenting of Dalits was not enough, state has also witnessed several
incidents in the recent past when school kids refused to eat mid-day
meal (MDM) cooked by Dalit women. Incidents of students' boycott of MDM
continue to pour in but Mayawati, who took strong view of 'Nach-le'
squalor against mochis, is mutely watching it all happen. Guddu Raidas,
a resident of Bilhaur on Knapur outskirts, explains as how unsafe they
continue to be. A
few powerful landlords had tried to bury Guddu alive in October last.
And, the police registered a case only after media highlighted the
incident promptly. "I was receiving intimidation from the mighty
co-villagers but police took no action and they acted when I was almost
buried, recalls Guddu." He still fears threat to his life. "I
have sought police protection but none has responded", he
complained. The painful tale of Guddu again puts a question mark over
Mayawati's claims of divinity based on the much-hyped political
empowerment of Dalit masses. On Saturday last a 30-year-old Dalit woman
was raped in Ravindrapuram locality of Govindnagar, which falls in the
heart of Kanpur but the actual culprits are still at large. On January
2, a Gulf-based Dalit youth identified as Amrit Lal, who had come all
the way to revel the New Year in the company of his wife and other
family members at Maurava in Unnao district, was kidnapped and later
killed. On December 27 last, another Dalit youth had been killed at
Purwa in Unnao district, while trying to save his wife from a rape bid
by two upper caste youths of the same village. The heart-rending
incident of two pregnant Dalit women dying after being thrown from
hospital after refusing to pay the bribes at government hospitals in
Kanpur Dehat district again proved that the lower level officials were
still insensitive to the chief ministers acclaimed priorities. Adding to Dalits woes are reported incidents of school kids refusing to eat mid-day meal cooked by Dalit women. The Uraini village near Nagra in Ballia district was witness to a similar incident when the primary school kids mostly Thakur and Brahmin refused to have the meal as it was cooked by a Dalit woman. Although local police have registered case against former village pradhan for instigating the kids but the latter are still not having the meal and have stuck to their demanding of changing the cook. In an identical incident, as many as 45 children of Prathmik Madhyamik Vidyalaya in the Hazratpur Jatia of Unnao district had refused to eat mid-day meal as it was cooked and served by two Dalit women. (Source:
The Times of India, January 10, 2008,) |
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