Southern States - Karnataka   

Dalits attacked in Hassan village

By Our Staff Correspondent

HASSAN DEC. 30. Police clamped prohibitory orders for 72 hours on Chikka Bilathi village in Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district after a few Dalits were injured and their houses damaged in an attack by caste Hindus on Monday night.

According to the Superintendent of Police, Panduranga H. Rane, the situation is under control, and one Karnataka State Reserve Police platoon and three District Armed Reserve platoons are keeping vigil in the village. Senior police officers are camping in the village to prevent further clashes. The Inspector General of Police, (Southern Range), Chandrashekar visited the village.

A press team which visited Chikka Bilathi, which is a part of the constituency represented by the district in-charge and Revenue Minister, H.C. Srikantaiah, saw ransacked houses, broken doors and roofs, and damaged carts of the Dalits who number around 100 in the village. Those who attacked the Dalits had locked up their houses and left the place, police said.

Sunitha, a Dalit woman, said that she and her husband were attacked by a group of caste Hindus when they were returning to the village from a hospital. She alleged that though the police were present they did not arrest the culprits. She said that her house was damaged by the attackers.

A sobbing Nagamma said that the mob went on a rampage using boulders to break down doors, attacked people with clubs, and ransacked a village shop. Sixty-year-old Shanthamma said the caste Hindus had not allowed them to draw drinking water since Monday night.

Mr. Rane told presspersons here that 27 houses had been damaged in the attack. Three cases were registered under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, but no arrests had been made so far, as those involved in the incident were absconding.

According to the president of the Madiga Dandora taluk unit, Manjunath, the attack was linked to an incident in which a gram panchayat member demolished four houses and a temple located on 1.10 acres of land owned by Dalits. The houses were demolished to construct houses under the "Nava Grama Yojana". There was a dispute over the issue between the Dalits and caste Hindus and a memorandum in this regard was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner recently.

Mr. Rane said he had conducted a meeting by inviting the leaders of both the groups on Monday afternoon and they agreed to wait for the district administration to solve the dispute.

However, he said he did not know the immediate provocation for the attack. The Dalits alleged that the caste Hindus attacked them in the evening after the meeting in the office of the Superintendent of Police.

Refuting the charges, the caste Hindus alleged that it was Dalits who pelted stones on their houses.

The Deputy Commissioner, M. Maheswara Rao, who visited the village said compensation would be paid to those who were attacked after the damage was assessed.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Science & Tech | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Mohammed Sayeed is 'kingpin', says Telgi
• Compensation for families of murder victims
• Money released for crop insurance
• Dalits attacked in Hassan village
• Lokayukta 'arrests' senior police official

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu