NACDOR flays govt for inaction in dalit atrocity cases

OST Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Sept 20:

Supporters of National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR) and dalit school students on Friday staged a demonstration in front of Assembly here to press their demands before the state government.

NACDOR members criticized the inaction of Kendrapada police in giving justice to dalits and demanded immediate intervention of the Chief Minister. They accused the State Government of not taking any concrete measures to check the increasing atrocities on dalit not just in Kendrapara, but across the State

“Atrocities on dalit people are on the rise in the State,” alleged NACDOR State president Ashok Kumar Mallick, pointing out the case of a minor girl in Patkura police station under Kendrapara district is running pillar to post for justice for the last several days after being raped by miscreants.

Besides, another minor girl in Pikrali village under Mahakalapada police station is crying for justice from police since last two months after being beaten up by villagers for touching a tube well in the village,” rued Mallick.

In a fresh case of police inaction, Mallick said when a dalit school girl in Chakada Gagua village under Mahakalpada police station tried to break a coconut in front of the deity on the occasion of Ganesh Puja on September 9, she was thrown out of the school by her teacher. “But the police are yet to initiate any step on her complaint,” he added.

“In all these cases, the Kendrapada police action is not satisfactory. The Kendrapada district superintendent of police himself threatened the victims’ families to withdraw complaints,” alleged Mallick.

The protestors demanded immediate arrest of the culprits, speedy police action in dalit atrocity cases pending in various police stations and stringent action against the Kendrapada SP as per the Scheduled Caste and Tribe (Atrocity Prevention) Act-1973, failing which they threatened to resort to a State-wide agitation.