Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Judicial inquiry sought into defilement of statue

GULBARGA: The Jewargi Taluk Joint Action Committee of Dalit Organisations and leaders of different political parties on Saturday demanded that the State Government order a judicial inquiry into the December 4 incident in which the statue of B.R. Ambedkar’ in the heart of Jewargi town was defiled. They also demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Chairman of the committee and former zilla panchayat member Chandrasekhar Harnal said that it was unfortunate that the police were yet to arrest anyone in connection with the incident.

Directly charging senior police officers with being responsible for the defiling of the statue, which has occurred twice in one year, Mr. Harnal and other Dalit leaders demanded that the State Government suspend the circle inspector and sub-inspector of the Jewargi police station for their alleged failure to provide adequate protection to the statue.

Mr. Harnal demanded the arrest of the persons responsible. The Government should also seize the immovable properties of the culprits and launch criminal proceedings against them, he added.

Mr Harnal, who is a Congress leader, said that part of the blame for the recurrence of the incident within a year should go to the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh who represented Jewargi Assembly constituency.

When the incident took place a year back, Mr. Singh had promised to ensure that the investigation was handed over to Corps of Detectives (CoD), but this was not done.

Mr. Harnal said the only recourse left before the Government was to order a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Mr. Harnal said that the leaders of Dalit organisations would begin an indefinite dharna in front of the tahsildar’s office in Jewargi town from Monday. After a week an indefinite hunger strike would be launched if the State Government failed to respond to their demand.After a fortnight, a rally would be organised in Jewargi town to protest against the incident.

The Dalit leaders also demanded that the Government withdraw the cases booked against Dalits in connection with the violent incidents on December 4 after the defilement of the statue came to light.

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