LACHRU KHURD: The victory of a Dalit in the recent panchayat elections has cost all Dalits of this village dearly. Being the fifth member of the panchayat, the vote of a Dalit, Sardara Singh, was the deciding factor for the post of sarpanch. His refusal to vote in favour of SAD candidate has led to the boycott of all Dalits by landlords. There are 248 votes in this village but only 225 villagers exercised their franchise and elected three Congress candidates Gurmeet Kaur, Tirlochan Singh and Sardara Singh and two SAD candidates Baljit Kaur and Nirmal Kaur. Jasmer Singh Lachru, an Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) member and circle president of the SAD who belongs to this village, allegedly started pressurizing Sardara Singh to vote in favour of his party to save his reputation. "Jasmer Singh has been pressurizing me to vote for his party. But when I did not surrender he through public address system of the village gurdwara announced our boycott last week and since then we are being socially boycotted by them," Sardara Singh, who has gone into hiding fearing police action, told the The Times Of India over phone from an unknown place. After the alleged announcement no landlord was allowing their entry into their fields and had allegedly blocked many passages to the houses of Dalits. Many Dalit women, who worked as domestic help, had lost jobs for no fault of theirs. "Though I have nothing to do with any panchayat member, my landlords denied me work on Monday because I am a Dalit," said Daropadi. The late-night raids at the houses of Dalits and Congress supporters by the Ghanaur police has terrorized Dalits. Fearing thrashing at the hands of the police all family members of Sardara Singh and two other Congress supporters have gone into hiding. "It's our land and we could prevent anyone from entering," Lachru, a landlord said. Former Congress minister Jasjit Singh Randhawa said they would start an agitation if the police didn't take action.
Dalit woman burnt alive over water dispute
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
Abdul Samad
Friday, June 6, 2008 (Harda)
A Dalit family was protesting for hours at the Harda district collectorate in Madhya Pradesh but no one was ready to hear them out.Their 55-year-old family member Prema Bai was allegedly burnt alive by her Dalit neighbours after an altercation over who would fill water first from the only hand pump in the locality.''My mother had a fight over filling water. The neighbours and the villagers poured kerosene over her and burnt her,'' says Prema's daughter Purnima.The families of the accused and the victim have a long history of rivalry and have often fought over water. The police haven't filed an FIR yet. It was only after the protest that they ordered an inquiry. ''We are investigating the case on the basis of the family's complaint. Action will be taken once the inquiry is over,'' says Abhishek Rajan, SDPO, Harda.With water becoming more and more scarce in the entire state, fight over it is becoming a day-to-day affair
Friday, June 6, 2008 (Harda)
A Dalit family was protesting for hours at the Harda district collectorate in Madhya Pradesh but no one was ready to hear them out.Their 55-year-old family member Prema Bai was allegedly burnt alive by her Dalit neighbours after an altercation over who would fill water first from the only hand pump in the locality.''My mother had a fight over filling water. The neighbours and the villagers poured kerosene over her and burnt her,'' says Prema's daughter Purnima.The families of the accused and the victim have a long history of rivalry and have often fought over water. The police haven't filed an FIR yet. It was only after the protest that they ordered an inquiry. ''We are investigating the case on the basis of the family's complaint. Action will be taken once the inquiry is over,'' says Abhishek Rajan, SDPO, Harda.With water becoming more and more scarce in the entire state, fight over it is becoming a day-to-day affair
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