For 7 days, Alwar cops sat on Dalit gangrape, waited for polls to end // Dalit youth beaten to death: Being pressured to drop charges, but I am not afraid, says sister
On April 26, five
bike-borne men on the Alwar-Thanagazi highway forcibly abducted a couple and
dragged them behind sand dunes off the road. They gangraped the woman in front
of her husband, filmed the act and robbed the couple of Rs 2,000.
Dalit youth beaten to death: Being pressured to drop charges, but I am not afraid, says sister
It took the Rajasthan
police seven days to make the first arrest after an 18-year-old Dalit woman
complained that she was gangraped by five men in Alwar, in front of her
husband. In that crucial seven-day gap, the accused men threatened her family
repeatedly, demanded Rs 10,000 and even circulated a video of the sexual
assault on social media.
And police even told
the complainant and her family that they would have to wait until polling ended
in the region — Alwar was among 12 seats in Rajasthan that went to polls on May
6 — and only a day later, police made its first arrest. Speaking to the
complainant’s family, police officers and witnesses, The Indian Express found glaring
gaps in the police response between April 30, when the crime was reported to
the police, and May 7, when the first arrest was made: from ignoring
established protocol in dealing with complaints, particularly involving women
and Dalits to delays in registering an FIR and recording the complainant’s
statement... read more:
Dalit youth beaten to death: Being pressured to drop charges, but I am not afraid, says sister
As one approaches
Tehri Garhwal’s Basan village in Uttarakhand, a one-room structure with blue
walls can be spotted from a distance. The first house as one enters the
village, it stands apart from the other establishments — because its occupants
are Dalits, residents say.
The one-room house is
where Jitendra Das, 21, lived with his mother and two siblings. Jitendra’s
death, his relatives say, occurred because he “challenged” members of upper
castes over discriminatory practices and “dared to take a stand”. He succumbed to
injuries days after he was allegedly beaten by seven people, all from the same
family and a higher ‘Savarna’ caste, for eating in front of them. The incident occurred
on April 26, at the wedding of his cousin.
Jitendra’s relatives said he reached
the venue early to help with the arrangements. “After completing the
preparations, he took some food on a plate and sat on a chair to eat. Some
high-caste members did not want him to sit near them. They asked him to move,
but he refused,” said Padam Das, his cousin.
As matters escalated,
one of the accused allegedly kicked Jitendra’s chair, causing him to fall.
“Jitendra got up and slapped him. The men hurled casteist abuses at Jitendra,
but bystanders managed to separate the two groups and maintain peace,” he said. Jitendra then left the venue. As he was walking home,
he reportedly stopped at a handpump, and the seven accused allegedly confronted
him again and beat him up. Jitendra was taken to hospital and succumbed to
injuries on May 5...
