MADURAI: A 15-year-old school going dalit boy was inflicted with multiple injuries on his face, for allegedly speaking to a non-dalit girl, aged 14, in Kumaram village near Madurai.

The incident happened on the night of August 21 and the boy was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Government Rajaji Hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries to treat the stab wounds. Even as the boy's father had lodged a police complaint against the girl's father who is absconding, the latter's family has lodged a counter complaint alleging sexual harassment by the boy.

"We have launched a hunt for the girl's father. We are yet to ascertain the veracity of the girl's complaint. Only after a thorough inquiry we would be able to find if the boy had harassed her. For now, the boy, undergoing treatment in the hospital has denied harassing the girl," a police officer said. SP V Balakrishnan had formed a special team to nab the girl's father M Mani, 45, and has ordered for a thorough inquiry on both the complaints.

Police said the boy , N Gokulakrishnan was standing on the outskirts of his native Kumaram village near Alanganallur on the night of August 21 and was taking to his uncle Manimaran and relative Bharathi when the girl's father, a non-dalit of the same village attacked him. Mani, who came to the spot pulled out a knife and started stabbing the boy on the face. "The boy suffered deep cuts on the face, wrist, shoulder and ear. His uncle and relative Bharathi rescued him and fled the place," police said.

Nagarajan in his complaint said that Mani had attempted to stab his son in the abdomen, but he wriggled and managed to escape the attack. As soon as Nagarajan lodged a complaint, the girl's family too lodged a complaint against the boy.

A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, an NGO that went on a fact-finding visit demanded that the accused be arrested immediately. "When we inquired the boy, he admitted that he spoke to the girl, but it was only mutual and not as being made out by her father," he said. Police said that they have registered a case under several Sections of IPC including attempt to murder as well as under SC/ ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Two days before the attack, Mani had visited the house of the 14-year-old boy and threatened him of dire consequences if he continued speaking to his daughter. Subsequently, the boy's relatives took the boy to Mani's house and explained that he was not harassing the girl. In spite of that, the boy was attacked, alleged the complaint.

Business Line

HC questions TN govt over promulgatory orders in Dharmapuri

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/hc-questions-tn-govt-over-promulgatory-orders-in-dharmapuri/article5052317.ece

CHENNAI, AUG 23:

Madras High Court today questioned Tamil Nadu government over the continuance of promulgatory orders in Dharmapuri district.

Dharmapuri Collector had issued the order after the marriage of Ilavarasan, a Dalit youth, to a caste Hindu girl sparked anti-Dalit violence last year.

Illavarasan was found dead on July 4, a day after his wife said she would live with her mother.

When a petition by one Vidyadharan, President of Lok Janasakthi Party, came up for hearing today, a division bench comprising justices V Dhanapalan and C.T Selvam questioned Special Government Pleader I.S Inbadurai how long was the government going to continue the prohibitory orders in the district under Section 144.

Dharmapuri Collector through its orders prohibited any public meetings by any political party in the district.

VCK leader Thirumavalavan and others, including Vidyadharan of Lok Janasakthi Party had challenged the Dharmapuri District Collector's order.

DNA

Atrocity FIR filed against Sanand priest

http://www.dnaindia.com/ahmedabad/1878733/report-atrocity-fir-filed-against-sanand-priest

Friday, Aug 23, 2013, 12:40 IST | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Roxy Gagdekar

Sanand police on Thursday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the priest who denied entry to a dalit couple in Bhavnath Mahadev temple of the town.

According to the FIR, the priest and his wife are accused under various sections of SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act, including one which indicts them for denying entry to a public place open to all members of the society. Addendums include sections 3 (1) (X) and 3 (1) (XIV) of Prevention of Atrocity Act and section 3 of Prevention of Civil Rights Act.

dna had on Thursday reported about the incident that took place on August 19, where Gordhan Jadhav, a retired clerk with National Textile Corporation, and his wife Dhangauri were denied entry into the Shiva temple by the priest because they are members of a scheduled caste. The dalit couple commands much respect in their community.

"Primary investigations have revealed that rights of Jadhav and his wife were violated when (they were) denied entry at the temple," said DS Vyas, PI with Sanand police station.

The police found that Jadhav and his wife are victims of untouchability.

Jadhav had on Wednesday filed an application in the matter with Sanand police station, following which the FIR was lodged on Thursday. Officials of Social Justice Department met Jadhav and have recorded his statement.

Parda Phash

SC/ST to have separate courts in Bihar

http://www.pardaphash.com/news/scst-to-have-separate-courts-in-bihar/721057.html#.UhhH2tLI3QQ

Bihar: The Government of Bihar has decided to establish special courts for hearing and disposal of cases relating to violence committed on members of Schedule Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

The SC/ST welfare minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said, "The special courts would be set up exclusively to deal with cases of atrocity against members of the SC/ST groups, in a bid to prevent such crime and offer justice in such cases expeditiously."

It is also reported that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed the officials of the law department to ask the Patna high court to speed up the process.

The SC/ST special courts will be situated in Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Begusarai and Bhagalpur districts.

It is also reported that the Chief Minister has asked chief secretary AK Sinha to arrange video conference with the district magistrates regarding the progress of cases relating to atrocities on SCs and STs.

As per the data we have received around 4,821 cases under the SC/ST Act were registered in Bihar, out of which 3,423 are still pending.

The Hindu

No arrests even after a week: DSS

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/no-arrests-even-after-a-week-dss/article5054632.ece

The Karnataka Rajya Dalit Sangharsh Samiti's district unit complained that dalits were assaulted by a group of Caste Hindus and Muslims over a property dispute in Balashettyhal in Surpur taluk in Yadgir district last Sunday.

They urged Deputy Commissioner F.R. Jamadar to intervene. The two groups had clashed over a piece of land, and when the Dalits refused to back down, they were assaulted with lethal weapons. A case was registered, but the accused have not been arrested even after a week, according to the samiti president.

The Hindu

Meeting discusses boycott of Dalits

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/meeting-discusses-boycott-of-dalits/article5054623.ece

The district administration organised a meeting at Jampad village in Bidar taluk on Friday in the backdrop of the allegation that Dalits have been boycotted by other caste groups.

Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, MLA, appealed to residents to live in peace and harmony and not let minor incidents destroy peace in the village. Elders should ensure that issue were not blown out of proportion, he said.

Mr. Nagamarapalli said another meeting of leaders of various communities would be held to decide the location of Ambedkar Bhavan as caste Hindus have objected to its construction saying the land could be used for a bus shelter. "I promise you that we will take a fair decision that will be acceptable to all. We should not approach courts and settle it amicably," the MLA said. P.C. Jaffer, Deputy Commissioner, urged residents to resolve the issue through talks. "We should all understand that stopping communication with a community or boycotts will not resolve any problem. They are not long-term solutions. How long can the farmers get migrant labour from Andhra Pradesh? How long can a community sustain without getting work in their own village?," he asked. Earlier, Dalits alleged that they were being boycotted. However, leaders of other communities denied it.

Govind Reddy, a resident, said that teashops, flour mills or cutting saloons were not closed to Dalits.

However, Venkatesh Manik Reddy said he had sent back some Dalit labourers from his farm after he found them abusing leaders of other communities.

K. Thiyagarajan, Superintendent of Police asked farmers not to discriminate against Dalits. Santoshamma Pundalikappa, zilla panchayat president, and Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, zilla panchayat chief executive officer were present.

The Hindu

Excess fee row: 'threat' from colleges forces students to withdraw complaints

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/excess-fee-row-threat-from-colleges-forces-students-to-withdraw-complaints/article5054397.ece

Saidapur panel gets 200 complaints in 10 days

The one-man committee headed by S.K. Saidapur, former Vice-Chancellor of Karnatak University, has said that many students who had filed complaints with the Karnataka State Professional Colleges Admission Monitoring Committee have withdrawn it alleging that they are receiving threats from the college authorities.

The committee was formed to look into the issue of extra fees charged by professional colleges for CET seats.

"Some students complain that they are threatened by the college officials. In some cases, students have withdrawn their complaints filed with the Karnataka State Professional Colleges Admission Monitoring Committee," said Mr. Saidapur in a press statement.

He added that the issue of excess fee being collected by private professional colleges from students admitted under the government quota, is "rather tricky".

The committee received 200 complaints in 10 days. As many as 50 complaints were on excess fee charged.

The committee found that of the 50 colleges against which complaints were filed, 28 said that the "payment of excess fee is optional. Colleges are willing to refund the excess fee" if students do not want to avail themselves of the extra services. And the rest, 22 colleges, sought "documentary evidence" to prove that they had charged extra fee. However, the panel advised nine colleges to refund excess fee collected.

In the release, Mr. Saidapur said that if students stand by their complaints, the committee would take "severe steps, including recommendation of disaffiliation of the college concerned". Meanwhile, though the government has made it mandatory for private colleges to upload online details of the breakup of the fee collected, not many colleges are doing so. According to the officials of the Department of Technical Education, of the 200 engineering colleges, only 69 have uploaded the information on their websites.

Among the 200 complaints, 41 were related to the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), including refund of fees when the student has taken a seat in another college, reluctance of colleges to return original documents when students opt for another college, and collection of fee from Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST) students from whom colleges are not supposed to collect any fee as their fee is reimbursed to the colleges concerned by the government.

 'If students stand by their complaints, panel will take action against erring colleges'

 61 of the 67 colleges referred to by students refund the fee

The Hindu

BSNL employees stage dharna

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/bsnl-employees-stage-dharna/article5054579.ece

Employees of Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) staged a dharna in front of the office of the General Manager of BSNL here on Friday in support of their demands. They said that wage stagnation after the wage revision in 2007 should be rectified. Steps should be taken to provide appointments on compassionate grounds. Vacancies under SC/ST quota should be filled. Irudhayaraj, District Secretary of the BSNL Employees Union, led the agitation.— Special Correspondent.

News Monitor by Girish Pant

--
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
...................................................................
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.