Till now, nine people have attempted suicide, as a mark of the protest. “The recent shocking incident in Gujarat where four Dalit youths were savagely beaten and humiliated publicly is just one example of the social terror this government condones”, she added.
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Amid sloganeering and protests from opposition, Gehlot said: “An FIR has been registered and action has also been taken under the act for atrocities against Dalits”.
He asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and BSP chief Mayawati not to visit the state due to the prevailing tense situation there and said any such trip will prove that they were interested in politicising it. There is a particular Dalit community that deals in the trade of leather. “Unless the society changes, inter-caste marriages are promoted, unless efforts are made to bring together two sides of the society, I feel casteism will not end”, he said yesterday. “We also want a ban on such illegal cow protection (groups)”.
Even as Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien was scrutinizing the notices, agitated opposition members trooped near the chairman’s podium, raising slogans against the government.
Parmer said: “Earlier, such cow vigilantes used to target those who are involved in cow slaughter”.
He expressed regret on the death of the Dalit who consumed poison.
Congress Wednesday targeted RSS and BJP in Lok Sabha over attacks on some Dalit men in Gujarat for skinning a dead cow, saying the Hindutva organisation was working for “Dalit-mukt Bharat” which was “sponsored” by BJP to polarise communities ahead of next year’s assembly polls there.
The accused, who belong to a local cow protection committee, then took the four men to a nearby village and assaulted them further before taking them to Una town, 24 km from the spot.
“The beating continued from 9.30 AM to 1.30 PM. The family members of victims and others called up police but it did not turn up”, they said. It’s a job that they have been doing for so long.
Low-caste villagers are commonly tasked with removing the corpses of dead cows from the streets of India, where the animals often roam freely.
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A group of unidentified persons burnt three state transport buses in Mehsana district, about an hour’s drive from state’s capital Gandhinagar as well as commercial hub Ahmedabad.
