Dalit families ostracised

Community members were assaulted for frivolous reasons: BSP

Y C Kambale, district convenor of the BSP, told a press conference in the city on Tuesday that dalits in the village were attacked on June 15 for frivolous reasons.

Members of the upper castes beat up women and the elderly among the dalits and their household items were damaged, Kambale said. A boycott was imposed on them from June 16, he alleged.

The boycott has made it impossible for the dalits to move about in the village and purchase essential items in the shops. A case of atrocities has been registered against 30 members of the upper castes. Another complaint has been filed by the upper castes against 35 dalits due to a political ploy, Kambale said.

Efforts were being made to project the dalits as the wrongdoers, he alleged. He accused the officers, elected representatives and ministers from the district of being negligent with regard to the case.

Kambale demanded that a probe committee of district-level officials be formed  forprotection of dalits who face social boycott. He said a gruel centre should be opened to rehabilitate the dalit families and demanded that the false cases lodged against them be withdrawn. Alleging that cases of atrocities on dalits had gone up since the BJP came to power in the State, Kambale warned of an agitation throughout the State, if the government does not take the necessary steps.

BSP leaders submitted a memorandum, along with the dalits facing the boycott, to the deputy commissioner and  the social welfare officer. The party’s district president Mahendra R Kambale and others were present at the press meet.