Untouchability practised extensively in State, says CPM

The district unit of CPM staged a protest condemning the act of upper caste people who had allegedly stopped  dalits from entering a temple at Sigar village in Holenarasipura taluk in Hassan district.

Speaking on the occasion, the CPM district Secretary Balakrishna Shetty alleged that four dalit women in Sigar village were stopped by upper caste men from entering a temple on September 6. The leftist leaders who protested against the act of the upper caste men were arrested, he added.

He lamented that the dalits were treated as inferior to animals. “The atrocities against the dalits is a continuous affair and it least bothers the civilised society.”

Shetty lamented that the dalits and poor in rural areas were the worst sufferers of the oppression.

The notion of untouchability is extensively practiced and is still alive in many areas in Karnataka, he added.

He said that in Koppal district, the dalits were not allowed to enter restaurants. Dodda Veeresh, who opposed this act of the upper caste people, was brutally killed. It is almost two months following the murder and the police are yet to arrest the accused, Shetty added.

He lamented that the CPM leaders who demanded for CBI inquiry were falsely framed under cases and were charged under criminal offence. He added the democratic and civilised society in the State was paving way to a prejudiced society and cited another example in Chamarajanagar district where the dalits were treated inhumanly. He added that two dalit women in Malavalli village in Chamarajanagar were sexually assaulted and murdered, besides two labourers were also killed in Deshavalli village, he added. Shetty said the violence in State was increasing under the Congress government.

People who their raise voice against the violence and injustice are suppressed and falsely criminal charges are levelled against them, he alleged.