Koraput dalits urge CM to intervene in police exploitation case

Deceased's father, mother, younger brother and sister

 

BHUBANESWAR: More than hundred of villagers of Doliamba and Lulipadar staged a rally following a procession from Master Canteen to Lower PMG here on Friday demanding stringent action against Koraput DSP Jagannath Rao and Laxmipur IIC who threatened the villagers in an accident case. Later, a delegation for the villagers submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister and urged him to look into this matter.

On the day of the incident, Kedar Halua (10), son of Devendra Halua of Lulipadar, was ruthlessly killed in a road accident on March 7 near Doliamba village under Laxmipur police station in Koraput district. When the dead body of the boy was lying on the road, the DSP Jagatnath Rao along with Laxmipur IIC N Pradhan came to the site and ordered the villagers to remove the body as soon as possible to clear the road. The villagers informed the police that the boy was not from Doliamba village and he was staying in his elder father's house to continue his education.

According to the Kartik Mahanandia of Doliamba, the police did not listen to the villagers and started abusing them by using caste based slang. When this episode was going on, the Tahasildar reached the spot and enquired into the matter and found that the Doliamba villagers are reluctant to remove the body from the accident site as long as Kedar Halua’s parent have not come, he added.

The police officers have registered false cases against dalit people of the villages alleging road blockade, though the villagers had demanded the arrest of the person who was responsible for the accident, the villagers alleged.

According to the mother of the deceased, Kaushalya Halua, the DSP also abused her by using caste slangs to remove the body, when she was crying on the road near her deceased son. When the entire villagers opposed the DSP, he implicated false cases against the villagers, she said.

“False cases have been implicated against the villagers and they are terrorised by the police. This is a brutal attempt to criminalise the dalit population of Duliamba. They are now in the capital of the State before the Chief Minister for justice,” said Dalit activist Ashok Mallick to the media persons here.

The villagers fearing the police, hided in the jungles from March 8 and at last they came to the capital city to tell their sad stories before the Chief Minister. “Maoists have approached the villagers to solve their problems and also assured them to help in this matter, but I told the villagers to fight against police exploitation in a democratic way,” said Mallick adding, “In view of the alarming rise of violence and atrocities against dalits in the State, we appealed the Chief Minister to intervene immediately and take appropriate action into this matter.”