As reported by The Independent, the four members of the Dalit community were last week tied to a vehicle in Gujarat state, stripped and flogged with sticks by self-styled hardline Hindu cow protectors who then published a video of the attack as a “warning” to others.
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The Rajya Sabha faced disruptions on Wednesday as opposition members demanded a debate on atrocities against Dalits in Gujarat’s Una town, where protests have continued with one Dalit committing suicide.
The state government, the Minister said, was planning to have a special court for the trial in the case.
Referring to crime statistics about Gujarat mentioned by opposition members in the house earlier, Singh cited crime data to show that there had been more such incidents in opposition ruled states. The government totally failed.
“This agitation that has started in Gujarat will have implications for the larger effort by the BJP at the national level to try to reach out to the less privileged sections of society”, Dr Sandeep Shastri, pro vice-chancellor of Jain University in Bangalore, said. She said, the Gujarat government, instead of CID probe, should set up a separate team to conduct the inquiry in fast track mode.
“Atrocities against the Dalits in the country are at a peak”.
The Home Minister said crimes against the Dalits are “unfortunate” and reflect a “social evil”. “Have faith in our government”, Patel said, speaking to reporters in Gandhinagar.
The Congress members were not satisfied with the Home Minister’s reply and staged a walkout.
Opposition parties also expressed concern on the rising number of incidents in which Dalits have been targeted since 2014. Singh also went on to count the schemes by the NDA Government to improve the life of Dalits and the poor.
Rajnath stressed that PM Narendra Modi also condemned the attack as soon as he got to know about the incident.
After Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s visit on Thursday, it was Kejriwal’s turn as the issue gifted the anti-BJP forces an opportunity to unite launch a fresh attack. “It would have been nice if they themselves would have filed an FIR (first information report) against him”, Mayawati said.
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“I urge the members not to politicise the issue…” he said. “You seemed to have made up your mind to walk out”, he said before reeling out figures of such cases during the UPA government to make his point. “This incident happened hardly 100 km away from the state capital”, Sushil Modi said in a statement on Friday.
