Even Dalits who occupy important positions in government, are not safe from attacks by upper castes. Daida Nagaiah, Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) of Vemulapalli mandal in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh was beaten up by K Chinna Linga Reddy last Thursday in his own office in the presence of several officials and two media persons.

“I never had this kind of experience in 31 years of government service,” said Nagaiah, who is a Dalit. He presented his case at a public hearing here on Wednesday organised by Sakshi, a Dalit rights organisation.
Nagaiah in his deposition said that Linga Reddy (40) had put in a requisition at the MRO’s office for a copy of his agricultural land document on January 21. When Reddy came on the 24th to enquire about his request, Nagaiah told him to come back in an hour’s time as he was in a meeting.

Reddy returned in less than half hour and when told that the document was being prepared, slapped and punched Nagaiah, called him by his caste name and used abusive language on him. The attacker was dragged away by the officials present. In response to Nagaiah’s complaint, the police arrested Linga Reddy on Tuesday. He has been charged under section 332 of Indian Penal Code for assaulting a public servant and under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Nagaiah said that Linga Reddy has a record of harassing the earlier four MROs, all of whom happened to be Dalits. He explained Dalit MROs are posted to Vemulapalli mandal as it is a stronghold of CPI(M) and hence “non-lucrative”.

Asked why his position did not protect him, Nagaiah pointed out that every single important department in the district was headed by a Reddy including the local MLA. “Only the power of caste matters here,” he said.
He said he was resisting pressure from the top to “compromise” and not pursue with the case.

V Nandagopal, Director of Sakshi said the assault was due “to the arrogance of caste”. He said the culprit should have been arrested “on the spot”, but it took the police five days to make the arrest because of Reddy’s powerful links.