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Gohana violence pre-planned: 'fact-finding' mission |
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Thursday, 15 September 2005 |
New Delhi, September 15, 2005
A joint front of NGOs which carried out a 'fact-finding' mission in Gohana in Haryana on Thursday alleged that the recent attacks on Dalits were pre-planned with the connivance of local police.
"Contrary to the claims by some police officers that the whole attack was spontaneous, it is clear even to a lay man that the ground for an attack had been prepared earlier. Instead of foiling the attacks, the police asked the Dalits themselves to leave the area," Subhash Gatade, a spokesman for 'Committee to Oppose Atrocities on Dalits' said.
A 15-member team of the front had visited Gohana and interacted with some of the victims, he said.
"The team members met a few victims who narrated how the 200 police personnel remained mute spectators to looting, plundering and burning of their houses," Gatade said.
He said many government officials initially claimed that only five or six shanties had been burnt while, in fact, over 50 'pucca' houses were razed by a mob comprising mostly people from upper castes on August 31.
Demanding immediate action against the officials, Gatade also called for ban on 'Caste Panchayats' which had an "anti-Dalit, anti-women bias."
Alleging that Dalits across the state were feeling unsafe, he said the provisions of the SC/ST Act to prevent atrocities on backward classes should be implemented in letter and spirit. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 31 July 2007 )
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