In a first-of-its-kind hearing by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday, 27 of the 30 complaints that were addressed to the commission spoke of indifference of police officials towards dalits.
These issues were raised immediately after NHRC chairman KG Balakrishnan praised status of scheduled castes (SC) in Gujarat. He said the state's schemes for development of the marginalised are working well and penetration of education among scheduled caste and scheduled tribes has reached 70%.
Almost all dalits and their leaders present in the audience were not in agreement with this statement.
Lalji Makwana from Bhavnagar narrated his tale to the NHRC panel of how he was unnecessarily harassed by cops only because he had filed an RTI seeking information against local authorities. Meenaben Makwana from Rajula taluka complained of indifference of police officials towards murder of her husband at the hands of people of the higher castes.
Cops of Ahmedabad rural also came under fire after dalits from Sanand complained of forced migration and social boycott in Goraj and Rethal villages. Dalit community leader from Sanand, Babu Vaniya, said that he was wrongly accused in a criminal case because he had led dalits in his village to raise their voice against murder of a community member.
Member of the NHRC panel, Justice BC Patel, heard all these complaints and said, "We have received written complaints (from all complainants). We will ask government departments to clarify allegations leveled against them," said Patel.
