A native of Jalandhar district in Punjab, S.R. Darapuri has had a long career as a retired Inspector General in the Uttar Pradesh Police. Darapuri was the third highest ranking officer in the state of Uttar Pradesh. After his time in public service, Darapuri has been a vocal advocate for the rights of the marginalised. According to National Herald, in 2019, he was arrested just before he was about to attend an anti-CAA protest in Lucknow. He has also been associated with a range of human rights organisations, including the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jan Sangharsh Morcha, Right to Food Committee in UP, and the Society for Promoting Buddhist Knowledge, to name a few. He has also worked for the forest and labour rights. Currently, he is the National President of the All India People’s Front.

However, in October 2023 he, along with other protestors, was arrested when he was protesting the land grabbing of Dalit peoples. The charges against him and the others were serious and included allegations of vandalism and even an attempt to commit murder under IPC Section 307. A French research scholar, Valentine Jean was also taken into custody in a case under the Foreigners Act for his involvement in the protest. A report by the Wire suggests that most of those arrested were from the Dalit community.

Darapuri has asserted that the arrests were orchestrated by the local police and administration to discourage future protests. He has also stated that the attempt to charge them with murder was an afterthought aimed at increasing their incarceration and punishment. He added, “All the IPC sections mentioned in the FIR were bailable. So, they added the IPC Section 307, which is non-bailable. The entire FIR was fictitious. There was no truth in any of the allegations. Our protest was peaceful, and I was there for just one hour.”

Darapuri firmly maintains that these allegations lack any factual basis and were motivated by a clear agenda: to instil fear and suppress the legitimate demand for land allocation to Dalits. He suggests that the government’s primary objective was to send a message that those who advocate for land rights could face similar repercussions. In a statement released by the All India People’s Front, Darapuri has asserted that, “Yogi Raj mein, Dalit ke zameen ke badle jail! (Under Yogi’s rule, a Dalit gets jail in exchange for giving away his land!)

The former officer also reiterated that the protest took place peacefully and even government authorities had been present in conversation with the protestors, in a statement he has released, “The police and magistrates were present at the site, and the entire program was conducted peacefully and in an organised manner. The authorities did not raise any objections. Later in the evening, the District Magistrate arrived at the scene and assured the protesters that their demand for land allocation was legitimate and promised to form a committee. This led to the conclusion of the sit-in protest.”

Although Darapuri was eventually granted bail by the Gorakhpur Additional Sessions Court on October 28 and released from Gorakhpur jail on Tuesday, October 30 evening, three of the nine arrested persons are still awaiting the completion of their paperwork.

Dalits and the issue of Land Grabbing 

In September 2023, 3 members of a Dalit family were killed in Kaushambi, UP, according to a report by the NDTV. A total of eight people were arrested in relation to the murder, which was motivated by the occurrence of a land dispute. One of the arrested include a police constable, Suresh Singh. The accused were from a backward caste and wanted to evict the victims from a piece of land. Similarly, in UP’s Mainpuri, a 33 year old Dalit man was found murdered after he could not pay back the loan to an upper caste man. Police here too suspected the issue of land grabbing.

What is worse is that the family also alleged that this is not the first instance of murder due to land grabbing. Another brother of the victim had also been murdered similarly in 2015, “Upper caste men from the village want to grab our land. The life of my entire family is in danger. We have to leave the village.”

Land thereby remains a contentious issue for the Dalit community in the districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) known as the Purvanchal region. In Purvanchal itself more than 3 decades have passed after land redistribution was enacted, however land continues to be under the control of Zamindars, according to Himal Magazine, these landowners across the region persistently work to ensure the land does not go out of their control.

Scroll.in highlights that across 13 states in India, over 31 cases of land conflict are occurring, and about 92,000 Dalits are involved in trying to get their land back. Historically, the emphasis on the need for land ownership amongst Dalits has been given great attention.

According to Frontline Magazine, the British government issued a historic order, the Government Order in 1892, which marked a path-defining moment for social justice and paved the way for future land redistribution schemes for the marginalised in India. This order established the Depressed Class Land Act 1892, designating certain areas of land as “Depressed Class lands.” These lands were allocated to the erstwhile untouchables of that era in the then Madras Presidency, and also included areas which are now Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, along with portions of present-day Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha. Thereafter, such land redistribution schemes were also taken up by the Indian government post-independence. Over time, these lands have become commonly known as “panchami” lands, a term associated with the marginalised and deprived communities. Interestingly, the designation “panchami” continues to be used today to describe land allocated to Dalits through various social welfare initiatives of State and Union governments. This initiative was a pioneering one as it laid the foundation for the equitable distribution of land to Dalits within the Madras Presidency, a significant step forward for social equality and justice.

However, Dalits today are still fighting for the land rightfully allotted to them under these schemes. In 2015, BSP Supremo, Mayawati, blazed out the ruling Samjawadi Party government for allowing amendments to the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act which would make it easier for non-Dalits to get land owned by Dalits. According to the law, a Dalit person would be required to report to the Magistrate on account of selling his land to a non-Dalit if he owned land that accounted for less than 3.5 acres. In 2023, a similar move has been made by the BJP government; several Dalit organisations, including the Bhim Army, have condemned it broadly according to Mooknayak.

Vicious avenues for land grabbing

According to Scroll, in 2013 close to 60% of Dalit households did not possess any agricultural land. Simultaneously, the 2011 Census revealed that nearly 70% of Dalit farmers worked as labourers on farms belonging to others, according to a report by Scroll.in. Thus, these harrowing figures suggest that there are very few Dalits who own land, and thus, if we look at the murders we discover that those that do are thus vulnerable to having their land taken away from them. The government in certain cases, such as Punjab, has also been accused of taking away Dalit land. In fact, Patanjali, which is endorsed by Ramdev who is known as a yoga guru, businessmen and supporter of the BJP, has also been accused of taking Dalit land. According to an incisive report from 2022 by NewsLaundry, Patanjali has been accused of going around regulations by organising a complex land acquisition strategy in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar. According to allegations, Patanjali utilised its influence to ensure the transfer, sale, as well as resale of approximately 600 bighas of land between 2005 and 2010 through the use of a series of “donation” deeds and land registries in the names of Dalit villagers.

The method, as described by the villagers to Newslaundry, was one where Patanjali’s associates would reportedly provide monetary incentives to numerous Dalit families, allowing the company to utilise their land without transferring legal ownership – a transaction they couldn’t undertake. The monetary compensation enabled many villagers to acquire land in the names of their family members, and in some instances, even their drivers and servants. Those who resisted the arrangement were allegedly subjected to coercion.

Apart from individual land acquisitions, the conglomerate allegedly also made attempts to secure hundreds of acres of gram panchayat land, although these efforts faced opposition from villagers. Villagers have asserted that village patwaris have also played crucial roles in facilitating numerous land registries on behalf of Patanjali. Following these events, Patanjali has utilised this land for cultivating medicinal herbs, sugarcane farming, and establishing cow shelters, as claimed by the villagers. This harrowing picture brings our attention to the condition of Dalits who still continue to suffer from various structural disabilities. Statistics thus reveal to us a stark reality; Dalits have poverty rates at a staggering 65.8 percent of which about 71% of Dalits are forced to toil as landless labourers, and are mainly relegated to working on land that they do not own. In rural areas the situation is far worse with about 58.4% of Dalit households deprived of any land ownership. This systemic injustice is perpetuated by a conglomeration of caste-based discrimination, a corporate-government nexus that often exploits their vulnerability, when certain state entities that align themselves with corporate interests, all of which conspire to rob Dalits of their livelihoods and their right to land. The issue of Dalit land grab is not just an economic crisis but a profound human rights concern that calls for immediate to rectify historical injustices and empower Dalits to reclaim their lives and land.

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The post Uttar Pradesh: Police action to deter fight for Dalit rights, says jailed activist and former IPS officer appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Darapuri, 79 years, has been a noted critic of the government and an activist. Two days down, it is unclear if he and the others who were held have been released yet.

Gorakhpur police have claimed (speaking to the media) that the protest on October 10 was in violation of the Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in place there at the time. Police have also claimed the protesters engaged in vandalism.

“I came yesterday to attend the public meeting organised by the Gorakhpur Ambedkar Jan Morcha regarding issues of Dalit communities and civil rights and the meeting was concluded peacefully. This morning Gorakhpur police came to take me to the police station,” Darapuri wrote on Facebook on October 11.

The others include a French national, one Valentine Jean, who is identified by the newspaper as a research scholar working on poverty in India. Circle Officer (Cantonment) Manush Pareek is quoted by Express as having said that Jean was held under the Foreigners Act because he had given an incorrect address on his visa application – in Dhanbad of Jharkhand.

The others arrested are Shravan Kumar Nirala (50), Rishi Kapoor Anand (32), Jai Bheem Prakash (41), Neelam Baudh (38) and Ramu Siddharth (50), according to the report. Darapuri’s son Ved Prakash has told Express that he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other ailments.

Darapuri had been among the 28 people who the Uttar Pradesh government had asked to pay more than Rs 63 lakh in 2020 with the claim that damage was done to public and government properties during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests at Lucknow in 2019. During these protests, too, he had been arrested and later released on bail.

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Kantadevi Darapuri died due to liver failure at the King George Medical University in Lucknow on January 6, 2021 afternoon, her husband (Retired) IPS officer S. R. Darapuri told SabrangIndia.

Darapuri, who made headlines during the anti-CAA/NPR/NRC protests for being arrested without evidence, said that he was grateful to Kantadevi for holding fort and supporting him in fighting for causes. “She could not physically participate in protests but she supported me. I never had to worry about anything at home because she was there. I am proud of her and thankful for her,” he said.

Kantadevi was an unlettered woman from a rural area, but she learnt about social issues during the 55-year of marriage to Darapuri. She went on to become a socially-conscious person who advocated for women’s rights and fought against the preference for a male-child.

She was also deeply invested in the farmers’ protest and asked for updates even when she was bedridden at the hospital. The last rites of the 74-year-old will be carried out at the Electric Crematorium in the city on January 7 as per her request for a “non-polluting” goodbye. Incidentally, at the same time as her cremation, farmers will carry out a tractor march along KMP highway.

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The post Kantadevi, wife of retired IPS officer Darapuri, passes away appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to our forces and said that more than 35000 of them have laid their lives for the security of our people. Yes, we agree that men and women in uniform work under trying conditions and, despite provocation, remain committed to the rule of law. There have been many upright officers, both in the police and in our armed forces,of whom this nation can be genuinely proud. They are thoughtful and absolutely incorruptible. It is people like them who give us hope. Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was a highly intellectual chief of Indian Navy, unceremoniously removed by the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee as he raised issues concerning our armed forces and national security and disagreed with the then defence minister, George Fernandez. There is Admiral L Ramdas who has been speaking against nuclearisation as well as communalization and continuously standsup for the people. We have a great police officer, former DGP of the Punjab Police, Julio Ribero,who brought peace in Punjab. There is Sanjeev Bhat, who is facing persecution in Gujarat and being targeted for the crime he might not have committed and for which many ‘valiant’ police officers might go to jail if properly investigated. We have R Praveen Kumar, who has revolutionized the SC/ST hostels in Telangana today, and students from these segments are emerging highly successful from these hostels. He is a thinking officer who has broken the glass ceiling about ‘merit’ and shown all of us that government can do miracles if our officers are given a free hand and day to day interferences in their work is not done by the political parties, particularly the ruling party.

Among many such upright officers was Mr S R Darapuri, who is a proud Ambedkarite and retired as Inspector General of Police from Uttar Pradesh police. Though his home state is Punjab, he made Uttar Pradesh his home as he had worked here all through his life. During his tenure, he has been very vocal about the rights of the marginalized and worked to protect them. Most of the governments, including those of the Bahujan parties, actually did not listened to him much and could never use his brilliance and ideas for the benefit of the community.

After his retirement from government service, S R Darapuri dedicated his life to the public cause, particularly issues regarding Dalits, Adivasis and minorities. He has been very vocal on the forest rights issues and active in the Sonbhadra region, where he contested unsuccessfully for the Lok Sabha. Darapuri has been a regular among human rights activists who have been speaking on various issues such as abrogation of article 370 and cases of violence on Dalits, in particular. He was part of many fact-finding teams in and outside Uttar Pradesh, related to communal violence as well as caste based atrocities committed on Dalits.

Darapuri has been under house arrest since December 18, according to his Facebook post. A report in The Times of India quotes his son as saying that the police had put him under house arrest on December 18, but formally arrested him on December 20. It is clear that Darapuri had called for a political but non-violent protest against CAA, but his family was not aware of his arrest as they thought it is just a preventive house arrest and once the protests were over, he would be released. It is nearly 10 days now and we do not know when he will be released. It looks like the police will file various cases of ‘inciting violence’ against him. A man, who served in the police for such a long period and always stood as a very polite and humane face of the police force, today is wrongly facing charges of inciting violence. S R Darapuri is a Buddhist Ambedkarite and a true follower of Dr Ambedkar’s mission.Dr Ambedkar is, perhaps, the biggest non-violent revolutionary in India after Buddha, and Darapuri and many like him actually follow the path of Dr Ambedkar, for spreading peace and strengthening the fraternity. How can an Ambedkarite Buddhist ever spread violence?

Mr Darapuri has been well-known as an Amberdkarite for a long period. After his retirement, he has been active in politics, and has raised issues of public concern, particularly those related to Dalits and Adivasis. Is raising people’s issues a crime? What is his crime, except that he participates in political meetings and criticizes the government? The other day the Prime Minister asked why protests cannot be non-violent, but the fact is that most of the protests have been non-violent and a responsible senior like Mr Darapuri cannot ever be violent. He was never violent even when he had the power, then how can and why should he become violent at this ripe age of 76 years, when he is not well and needs medical assistance. His wife, too, is not well and needs medical attention most of the time.

We hope that the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies will take note of  arbitrary arrests in Uttar Pradesh and will act fast to get innocent people and activists released. It is people like Darapuri who can be the best bet for a peaceful protest and for building bridges between different communities. He has been an active member of Ambedkar Maha Sabha in Lucknow, but the senior members and his colleagues, who are now supporting the government, are quiet. I am sure they, too, know it well that, political differences apart, Darapuri cannot be a person for inciting violence or engaging in any kind of conspiracy. We hope that fabricated charges against him will be struck down in the court of law and he would be honorably released. It is deeply disturbing that he has to face all this just because he stood up for people’s right to protest and spoke against an act democratically. After-all, as the Prime Minister said,peaceful democratic protests are our fundamental right and should be respected.

There is a message for all – that police personnel or administrative people are a part of the society. While they have a responsibility towards the government, they also have to protect the people and honour the Constitution.There are many upright officers, who stand with the people and who will definitely be serving people after their retirement, as Darapuri and many others are doing. I hope they will understand that while following the diktats of the government, there still is a lot of space to protect people and humanize the police force. It will not be possible, unless the forces represent our social and cultural diversity. This is where the secular parties failed, as they failed to re-create the social diversity of religion and communities in the police force. Hence, for those who look at India with ‘one nation one religion’ idea, it becomes easier to manipulate that idea into an ‘us vs. them’ confrontation. We still hope that good sense will prevail and all the innocent people will be released. Instead, cases should be filed against all those who were engaged in damaging public and individual properties, including those in the police force. A huge democracy like ours cannot have a police force acting like a political militia, but we need an absolutely professional police force which protects people and acts impartially according to the rule of law. We hope the highest court of the land will also act on this and give detailed guidelines to the police. Hopefully, it will also order an SC monitored SIT or a special judicial investigation by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge, who will inquire into all that happened in Uttar Pradesh and whether the police actions in the state were extraordinarily harsh or not.

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