Over the past two months there have been six to seven incidents including one alleged rape of a Dalit girl in Amreli and several incidents in other parts of Gujarat
Policemen from the local police, including DYSP Bharadwaj did not take action in the case of the severe beating of Dalit youth by several others from the Rajula village of Kadi taluka in Gujarat’s Mehsana district on May 22, 2016. One and a half months after complaints were lodged against over 35 accused for the beating up of cattle tanners on May 22, 2016, the police acted and arrested four persons only the day before yesterday. Senior Dalit leader and advocate http://www.inkhabar.com/national/21624-gujarat-police-start-arresting-accused-very-old-dalit-cases, Valjibhai Patel of the Centre for Social Justice said that it was these serial and perpetual atrocities against Dalits that had been spreading that has now boiled over into a protest since the July 12 incident. Patel had submitted a CD with all the video evidence of the atrocities himself to the police 90 days ago. July 22, that is tomorrow is the day when the charge sheet should have been filed but this has not been done, Patel said.
In Rajula, too the aggressor took videos of the incident and circulated these.
“It is the mindset of those in power, those who believe that ‘their’ Hindu Rashtra is a reality that is granting a kind of social and political sanction to such acts of violence, “ added Patel. It is imperative that serious action is taken against the policemen for delays in filing FIRs, arrests and prosecution and that these are followed up in the Courts. Patel will appear before the State Human Rights Commission tomorrow and is also contemplating approaching the Gujarat High Court.
Since Monday, Gujarat states has been in the news for an angry uprsing, today the fourth day of the protest, Thursday, July 21, Dalits burned down two buses in Kadi and angry protests were also witnessed in Surat, Kishodh (Junagadh) and Dhodka. An independent fact finding report had found the Gujarat police complicit in deliberately not preventing the violence.
Gujarat passed a law that provides for seven years imprisonment, Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 2011, that specifically prevents the transportation of cow, the calf of a cow, a bull or a bullock. While mob hysteria has been whipped up by the vocal proponents of the Hindu Rahstra, the cattle rearing Maldhari community that rears cattle had about 3.32 lakh hectare of land for grazing at their disposal. However first the Modi and now the Anandi Patel government has given away this gauchar land at a throw away prices to the industrial houses. Also earlier, non-productive cows were sent to graze in these areas, but since there are no more gauchar land available, cattle herders were forced to spend Rs 40-50 per cow for fodder. Besides the issue of handling dead cattle and their hides has always been foisted off on Dalits and Muslims.
Some of the Videos can be seen here.