BIHAR

Rising Atrocities Against Dalits

THE crime graph against dalits has not abated in Bihar ever since the large scale massacre of dalits in Belchhi village under Barh sub-division in the late seventies. In the last one month, many report of attacks, rape and other forms of social humiliations have been reported from various parts of Bihar. One dalit woman of Purnea district was branded as witch and beaten to death while another woman was stripped naked and paraded through streets of the village and was forced to eat human excreta.

In Madhubani district, a dalit woman was molested which was objected to by CPI(M) district committee member Sonadhari Yadav. The molesters got infuriated and attacked the family of the CPI(M) leader. His life was saved as he was away form his home at the time of attack. The Party organised a protest meeting immediately, which was addressed by state secretary Vijaykant Thakur and secretariat member Awadhesh Kumar.

In Patna, a dalit girl who was returning from her sister’s house along with her brother-in-law was criminally assaulted and raped by four youths of the same area. AIDWA general secretary Rapari along with CPI(M) Patna district secretary Ras Bihari Singh, and Janwadi Sanskritik Morcha general secretary, Ashok Kumar Mishra rushed to the Digha village and organised the dalit women and gheraoed the police station and demanded immediate apprehension of the culprits. The timely intervention of AIDWA and the Party has forced the police to arrest the rapists.

With the alarming rise in atrocities against the dalits, particularly against the dalit women who are more vulnerable due to their social status and venturing out at odd ours in search of work, the Party has decided to react immediately on all such incidents and take up the cause of victims till he or she gets justice.

MARCH TO RAJ BHAWAN

After the Digha incident in which a dalit girl was raped, AIDWA gave a call for a ‘March to Raj Bhawan’ on May 17 highlighting the plight of women, particularly dalit women in the state.

Hundreds of women from different districts gathered near the IT roundabout in the scorching heat and marched towards Raj Bhawan. Sudha Bindu Mitra and Rampari, president and general secretary of state unit of AIDWA led them. A nine-point memorandum was submitted to the governor demanding enactment of stringent laws for protecting the dignity and honour of women in the state. Although many laws are there against branding women as witch, against untouchability, against dowry etc, but they remain on paper and the guardians of law themselves violate these laws with impunity. Sections of upper castes and the newly empowered castes prove their “superiority” by raping women from the lowest rung of the society.

The CPI(M) has decided to counter these atrocities head on and directed its district units to give special attention to the sufferings of the dalits and mobilise them on social and economic issues affecting them. The recent interventions of the Party on these issues in various parts of the state, from Purnea to Patna and Madhubani, have made the rank and file aware of the message of the 18th Party congress – our commitment to the cause of the poorest of the poor and socially deprived sections of our society.

The Party is of the firm opinion that the nearly two and a half months of president’s rule in Bihar has miserably failed to arrest the growing crimes, particularly against women and dalits. These sections are the worst sufferers of the bureaucratic rule. Nobody listens to the sufferings of common people. The Party has tried to talk to the state governor, Buta Singh, on many issues concerning the common people, particularly the spectre of drought and flood, but failed to get his audience.