Dalits ousted from village in Balangir
TNN | Oct 19, 2011, 09.02AM IST
BHUBANESWAR: At least 15 dalit families were allegedly thrown out of their homes from a village in Khaprakhol block of Balangir district, around 400 km from here, by upper caste families. Eighteen days after the September 30 incident, the dalits are still taking shelter with their relatives and are unable to return to their houses, a dalit outfit said on Tuesday.
Om Prakash Kumbhar, president of Lakshe Ghara Ganda Samaj Samiti, said the upper caste families attacked the Ganda (a scheduled caste) families in Ambabahal village, ransacked their houses and forced them to leave, suspecting them of indulging in theft, the allegation of which was found to be false by police.
Kumbhar, who led a fact-finding team of the samiti to the village recently, said a pregnant woman delivered stillborn twins while fleeing the village. The woman, Savitri Deep, and her husband Santosh are now taking shelter in a make-shift tent at a weekly haat, around 10 km away from their village.
The village had about 30 dalit families, who were staying in two localities. Sources said the village has witnessed a series of thefts in the past few months. The villagers had discovered two dalit youths moving in the area in a suspicious manner and presumed that they were involved in the thefts. "Police later found the two innocent," Kumbhar said.
Police said a case was registered against the alleged culprits under SC/ST Atrocities Act. Further investigations are on, they said.
The Pioneer
No comments:
Post a Comment