Photo: Esha Paul/The Quint

Justices PB Sawant, KolsePatil among many other prominent citizens committed to civil liberties have condemned the arrest ofBhim Army chief Chandrasekhar was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh today. Trade unionists, Ashok Chowdhury and Roma apart from alit activist JigneshMevani have termed the arrest the act of a desperate government. Three days ago, the sa,e UP police obtained permission from a local court and blocked the pages (five), on Facebook of the Bhim Army. While Chandrashekhar has been ‘accused’ of fomenting violence in Shabbirpur in UP, the violence that hit the western district of UP by the state, several individuals and organisations, who’s inciteful posts and writings on facebook and twitter –owing allegiences to the dominant Thakur and other caste Hindus have escaped the long arm of Yogi Adityanath’s controlled state machinery.

One person was killed and several suffered injuries after a clash took place between Dalits and Thakurs at Shabbirpur village on May 5.Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior police officer in Himachal confirmed his arrest. Sources said that Chandrashekhar was taken away in aInnova car by policemen dressed in plainclothes. The UP Police were able to triangulate Chandrashekhar’s location after tracing his phone calls. Earlier, the Bhim Army leader was reportedly hiding in Punjab’s Ferozpur district for a few days before proceeding towards Himachal.
After the violence that erupted around May 8, Dalits were brutally attacked in Shabbirpur, after which Chandrashekhar had held a huge 30,000 strong rally at Delhi’s JantarMantar. Thereafter, there was another brute attack, allegedly by caste Hindus and Thakurs on Dalits in and around Shabbirpur after BSP supremo Mayawati had visited the village. Adityanath’s administration is being increasingly seen as one only dominated by Thakurs and questions related to this caste bias have even been raised in the state assembly. On May 13, Justice Sawant and others had warned against using provisions of the draconian NSA against Dalit firebrand leader, Chandrashekhar.

Chandrasekhar, who has been evading arrest since last month, had earlier this week said he would surrender if 37 ‘innocent’ Dalits, arrested in connection with the Saharanpur violence, were released on bail. “I feel the UP government has failed to address the issues of the Dalits. The chief minister has lost control over the police and the administration. There have been more cases of atrocities against the Dalits in the past two-and-a-half months as compared to last one year,” he had told PTI.

“Instead of arresting the real culprits of the Saharanpur violence, the police “have arrested innocent people and put them behind bars. This has resulted in growing anger among the Dalits,” the 30-year-old activist said.

Chandrashekhar’s arrest comes a day after two members of the Bhim Army were nabbed in Saharanpur for their alleged involvement in caste violence in the district’s Ramnagar area on May 9. “Bhim Army’s DeobandVidhanSabha president Deepak Kumar and Saharanpur district president Praveen Gautam have been arrested from near Sun City Colony at Malhipur Road,” Saharanpur City Circle Officer Mukesh Chandra Mishra had said. The duo was produced before the court following which they were sent to judicial custody.
 
 
 

The post After Blocking Its FB Pages, UP STF Arrests Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar, in Dalhousie, Move Condemned by Many appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Richa Singh, leader of the Allabad University Students Union speaking to Sabrangindia said that the police had misbehaved with the women protestors. She along with Pooja Shukla of the Lucknow University Students Union and Mohit Pandey have all been currently detained.

 
The protest peace march was organised to protest the violence against Dalits in Sahranpur and also the escalating crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh.

The post Richa Singh, Mohit Pandey Detained, Lucknow Police Lathi Charges Peaceful Students Protest appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Protesting against the effort of saffron outfits to to project Dalit icon BR Ambedkar as a Hinduist, it recalls that it is he alone who organised mass burning of Manusmiriti and converted to Buddhism during the later days of his in order not die as a Hindu.

“There is an effort to project him as anti-Muslim by distorting what he said. Just as Buddhism was destroyed by calling Gautam Buddha as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, a well-planned conspiracy is on to destroy the ideology of Ambedkar”, the leaflet claims.

Citing how the ruling BJP in UP is undermining Ambedkar, the leaflet said, even at the provocative Ambedkar Shobha Yatra, took out by BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma, only slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Yogi Yogi” (for UP chief minister Adityanath Yogi) were shouted.

Currently, says the leaflet, Uttar Pradesh police is seeking to find a link between Dalit protesters in Saharnpur led by the Bhim Army with Naxalites, wondering, “The government is thinking of using the National Security Act against the Dalits. The National Security Act will not be used against those who attacked the Dalit locality for five hours with guns, swords and petrol bombs!”
 

The post Why are Dalit MPs & MLAs Silent on Attacks in Saharanpur, Protest Marchers to Ask Starting Zanzarka, Gujarat appeared first on SabrangIndia.