A Dalit youth reportedly committed suicide in Koilandy near Kozhikode in Kerala following brutal torture by people posing as moral policemen who accused him of having an illicit affair with a woman. This was the second moral policing-related tragedy to take place in Kozhikode district in the past three months.

The victim of moral policing in Koilandy was identified as Preman alias Babu, a jeep driver from Kattuvayal, Panthalayani in Kozhikode district. Babu reportedly committed suicide after a group of people brutally tortured him on the street accusing him of having an illicit relationship with a young woman in the locality.

Video footage that spread through mobile phones showed a totally naked and hand-cuffed Babu being beaten up mercilessly by a group of people at Kuruvangad in Koilandy on Friday evening. Despite the painful cries of Babu, the group continued to beat him up, the footage showed. Babu was later found dead. The police have launched an inquiry.

People posing as moral policemen had beaten to death a cable TV businessman, Shahid Bawa (29), at Kodiyathur in Kozhikode district on November 10 last, accusing him of having an illicit relationship with a woman. The police had recently filed the chargesheet in the case.

Deccan Chronicle

Loyola bars Paramakudi cop

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/loyola-bars-paramakudi-cop-486

February 28, 2012

By K. Karthikeyan

The infamous Paramakudi police firing, which claimed the lives of six innocent dalits in far-off Ramanathapuram over five months back, still creates ripples in Chennai.

The students and faculty of Loyola College on Saturday prevented IPS officer Senthilvelan, who led the police posse at Paramakudi, from inaugurating their annual sports meet. In fact, the officer was stopped from entering the college.

It was not just the students, but a group of 35 teachers, including a few deans and heads of departments, led by several non-dalit professors, signed and presented a memorandum to college principal Father Bonifus Jayaraj and secretary Father Joe Arun.

They demanded that the management stop the 'notorious' IPS officer from participating in the event.

A senior faculty of the college told Deccan Chronicle on condition of anonymity that the management initially tried to convince them, citing time constraint. But, it later admitted that the college might be projected as being anti-government and face difficulties.

However, the faculty stood their ground that they did not want a bad precedence set by a person against whom a CBI inquiry was pending to inaugurate an event among students. Meanwhile, about 200 students, including other college students, gathered in front of the college and sent back Mr Senthilvelan.

Another faculty of the college said the institution follows a policy of prioritising the marginalised in admission and recruitment and, therefore, this would be jeopardised if it allowed the "accused officer" inaugurate the event.

"An anti-democratic and anti-dalit element has no place in a democratic institution," he added.
The superior on campus Father Rev Amal Kulandaisamy inaugurated the sports meet.

IBN Live

Naidu owns 320 acres of land in benami: TRS

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/chandrababu-owns-320-acres-in-benami/234391-62-127.html

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been belching fire and brimstone at Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu, has come out with "documentary evidence" that the TDP leader is in benami possession of 320 acres of land in Nellore district.

"Of that extent, 17 acres of land belonged to tribal people and Dalits. The lands used to be in his wife's and son's names. When he became chief minister in 1995, he transferred the lands in the names of his relatives. Naidu mastered the art of possessing assets in benami names. He has a master's degree in knowhow of owning lands in benami names," Rao told mediapersons here on Monday.

"In 2001, a 7-acre land was given as a "gift" to Naidu's son Lokesh by the person who was holding the land on behalf of Chandrababu Naidu. No one knows better than Naidu on how to circumvent laws relating to land ceiling and assigned lands.''

The TRS chief and MP said that he would campaign against Chandrababu Naidu in the by-election in the Kovur Assembly constituency where the TRS too would field its candidate. "We are considering three names. We will decide on one," he said, adding that a campaign committee was constituted for Kovur which would span out to villages to expose Chandrababu Naidu's greed for lands in Nellore district, he said. "I will go to Kovur by road on March 6 or 7 to campaign for the TRS candidate," he said.

Rao demanded an inquiry into Naidu's possession of lands. The chief minister should order an inquiry. The Chief Commissioner Land Administration (CCLA) should ask the collector to probe the TDP chief's illegal assets, he said.

The TRS chief described the Telugu Desam as a pure Andhra party and the Telangana TDP Forum as Telangana Slaves Forum. "Can any Telangana leader in the TDP ever become president of that party or leader of the Opposition or for that matter chief minister of the state. Does any Telangana leader have the courage to aks for the reins of the party?

Even when there is speculation that Naidu might move to Delhi for taking part in national politics, the names that pop up to head the party would either be Balayya or Yellayya but never a Telangana leader.''

Rao took exception to Nadiu saying that he should remain indebted to him for giving him "rajakiya bhiksha" "Does he mean that Telangana people are beggars to receive bhiksha? This only shows the feudal personality of Chandrababu Naidu,'' the TRS chief said.

The Tribune

'Test based on caste dividing school children'

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120228/ldh1.htm#6

Charanjit singh Teja, Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 27

I am from this particular caste and I know castes of all my classmates! Surprisingly, these words are not from college or university students who were protesting on the issue of caste-based reservation a few years ago.

It's the conversation between government middle schools students, who started identifying the castes of their classmates after the special award competition given under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

To uplift girls and Scheduled Castes, the government started a special test up to 8th class, in which girls and SC boys can appear. But teachers of government schools found that after this test, students start identifying castes of one another and sometimes tease their classmates by calling them by their castes.

The competition was conducted on February 21 all over the state.

The SSA organises this Special Award Competition annually for 5th to 8th class. In this competition first three students were on block level. The first girl student is awarded Kalpna Chawla Award and the first boy gets Dr BR Ambedkar award in this competition. The competition is only for girls and SC/ST boy students, as boys from general and backward classes cannot appear in this competition. Dr Balwinder Singh Kalia, a teacher at a local government school, said, "A wrong message is spreading in the rest of the students who are deprived from this test. Otherwise, students are not so conscious about other castes. Government should set any other criteria in which caste could not be identified."

Another teacher Gurbeer Singh said, "We are dividing innocent students on caste basis. We observe changes in the attitudes of students after conducting this test. Otherwise, it is a very good effort of the government to uplift girls and poor students, but this test is making them conscious about caste.We should remove the classifications from society on the basis of caste".

"Most of the students in government schools are from poor class so there is no need to categories them on the basis of caste. Government should facilitate them equally", said Sandeep Singh another teacher.

--
.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.