A report sent to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by the NGO, Navsarjan, has revealed that dalits in Gujarat are frequently forced to leave their native villages because of clashes with members of forward castes. Denial of entry into temples is another reason for dalit migration in the state, the report states.
The NHRC has taken serious note of the allegations made in the report. Earlier this month, it issued a notice to the state government asking it to file its reply by April 3, 2012. The commission has threatened to take action if the state government fails to reply to its notice.
The report was prepared on the basis of a public hearing of atrocities on dalits organised by Navsarjan and Gujarat Human Rights Committee in January this year. The minutes of the public hearing reveal that a large number of dalits and tribals, who comprise 7 and 15 per cent of Gujarat’s population respectively, are victims of social boycott by powerful sections of the rural population.
Of the 20 different cases from as many as seven districts of the state that were attended to at the public hearing, six were cases of social boycott and forced migration after the murder of a dalit or tribal by powerful sections of society. In two cases, dalits had resisted attempts by forward castes to deny them entry into temples. This had led to a social boycott of the dalits which had forced them to migrate to other areas of the state.
Rape of dalit girls is another reason cited in the report for the migration of the members of the depressed community from villages to cities. Disputes due to untouchability that is still rampant in many villages is another reason for dalits leaving their native villages and moving to other areas of the state, the report says.
Dalit activist Kirit Rathod told DNA that discrimination because of caste is at its worst in rural areas of Gujarat. “Many dalits and tribals have no option but to migrate to other villages for safety or live in make-shift colonies as officialdom does not care to provide them with even basic amenities,” Rathod said.
