Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time: Dalit labourer dies, nephew alleges he was beaten

CHENNAI: Twelve years after she was accused of caste discrimination against a fellow advocate, lawyer Meera Guptha has now been acquitted of the charge.

After considering all the evidence, principal sessions judge P Devadass acquitted her, declaring that the prosecution had not established its case "beyond all reasonable doubts". The matter relates to a case registered under section 3(1)(x) of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 based on a complaint lodged by advocate C Ponnusamy. The case of the prosecution was that Meera Guptha, on her return from a trip to Mount Kailash, distributed packets of p r a s a d and holy water to advocates Shanmugam and Sethuraman at their chambers on July 9, 1999. Guptha is alleged to have refused to give Ponnusamy the p r a s a d.

Alleging that it amounted to caste discrimination, a meeting of the SC & ST Lawyers' Association was convened 12 days later on July 21, 1999, where it was resolved to lodge a lice complaint. An FIR was lodged the same evening.

The Times Of India

Dalit labourer dies, nephew alleges he was beaten

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Dalit-labourer-dies-nephew-alleges-he-was-beaten/articleshow/10834224.cms

TNN | Nov 22, 2011, 11.29PM IST

RAJKOT: The nephew of a Dalit farm hand has filed a complaint with the police saying that his uncle was beaten up when he asked for his wages, which resulted in his death the next day.

Dadu Jadav (35), a resident of Rangpar village in Wankaner taluka of Rajkot district, was admitted to a government hospital on November 20 and died the following day. His nephew Dinesh Sondarva alleged that farmer Dilip Kathi beat up Dadu when the latter asked him for his dues of Rs 1,000. On Tuesday, Dadu's body was exhumed and sent for postmortem.

A complaint has been filed against Kathi under section 302 of Indian Penal Code and various other sections of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC and STs Act.

However, the police are skeptical about it as the complainant said Dadu did not go for treatment on the day he was beaten up and instead went to Rajkot where his sister lives.

He then told his sister that he fell down from a tree and got injured. Dadu was admitted to the government hospital in Rajkot where he died on November 21.

Police said Dadu's relatives did not inform the police and buried him. Meanwhile, Dinesh got admitted into a government hospital. "Dinesh in his first statement to police in Rajkot said that he, Dadu and Kathi were drinking together and had a heated exchange over some issues, but when the Wankaner taluka police reached the hospital to take his statement, he retracted from his earlier statement and said Kathi had beaten them up,'' deputy superintendent of police Rajendrasinh Chudasama said.

The Times Of India

Women continue to face violence

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Women-continue-to-face-violence/articleshow/10875012.cms

TNN | Nov 26, 2011, 01.35AM IST

VARANASI: To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) Men's Action for Stopping Violence against Women (MASVAW), in association with the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV), organised a poster exhibition and street play at Asi Ghat on Friday.

The poster exhibition and street play were based on all types of violence against women. The youths and volunteers of MASVAW, a UP based alliance of men and organisations working on gender issues.

"The organisation is working to reduce the incidents of violence against women. We try to raise awareness through cultural and advocacy campaigns for improvement in gender relations," said Sanjay, the regional co-ordinator of MAS VAW.

He said though the awareness level was increasing among the people, unfortunately the incidents of vio-lence against women continued to increase. According to the records of women police station,most of the cases coming to police were dowry related and domestic violence.

A total of 302 cases of violence against women were registered in 2010 while this figure was 188 till September 2011. The district police have a MASWomenHelpline and Family Counselling Centre to look after the cases related to women.

According to Sanjay, MASVAW believes that it is the responsibility of all members of society, men and women to ensure a violencefree society for women. The organisation has initiated activities with male youth in schools, colleges and universities. T

The activities include workshops, debates and poster competitions, film-shows, taking a pledge and roadshows. It may be mentioned here that the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The UN invited governments, international organisations and NGOs to organise activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day as an international observance.

ZEE NEWS

Survey and documentation of land soon in Bihar

http://zeenews.india.com/news/bihar/survey-and-documentation-of-land-soon-in-bihar_743846.html

Patna: A bill to carry out survey of land and its computerised documentation would be brought soon in Bihar to redress land disputes, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday.

"We have decided to bring a bill for using the high-tech equipment for carrying survey of land, computerisation of the data and documentation of land papers," he told reporters after releasing the report card of his government.

Stating that the exercise of surveying land would be completed in next three years of the enactment of the legislation, Chief Minister said, "Earlier it used to take years for completing survey of land in Bihar."

"The draft of the bill is being prepared. It is necessary to boost agricultural production as the population of the state has gone up to more than ten crore now," he said.

Enumerating the achievements of his government, Kumar claimed that the state had made significance progress in the field of health, education, infrastructure and social welfare, besides strengthening PDS.

ZEE NEWS

850 women missing in Himachal

http://zeenews.india.com/news/himachal-pradesh/850-women-missing-in-himachal_742083.html

Shimla: Nearly 850 women and girls have gone missing in Himachal Pradesh in the last five years, say police.

This has come to light during a suo motu case initiated by the state high court on the basis of a missive from a father whose married daughter went missing in September 2010 and has remained untraced.

Describing the alarming number of women and girls who go missing every year as shocking, a division bench comprising Chief Justices Kurian Joseph and Sanjay Karol Tuesday directed the additional director general of police (CID) to constitute a special state-level unit and investigate all such cases.

The official was also directed to submit a preliminary report before the court with regard to the progress in every case within six weeks.

Earlier in the case, the court had directed the inspector general of police to file a consolidated district-wise report of all women who went missing in the past five years and have remained untraced so far.

As per the police affidavit provided to the court Tuesday, there are 848 cases of missing women and girls in the state. Una district has the maximum number of 166 missing women cases, followed by 127 from Mandi district and 96 from Sirmaur district.

Petitioner Ramesh Chand of a village in Solan district has alleged that his daughter Kiran Bala has been missing since September 2010, but police have been unable to trace her. He also alleged that Bala's in-laws had a hand in her disappearance.

--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
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Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.