M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, March 22: Two FIRs have been lodged in two incidents of the alleged atrocities committed against the scheduled caste people by the upper caste people in Palamu under the SC /ST Prevention of atrocities act.
Additional SP K Vijay Shankar said that the Parwa police station has instituted these 2 FIRs and he had directed the police to do it as atrocities were allegedly inflicted on two different families by the same group of aggressors.
“It is alleged that more than a dozen people belonging to the upper caste assaulted a couple of scheduled caste people of two families at Batsara village under the Parwa police station,” Shankar said.
The alleged incident took place on Sunday night. Sources said that people do use a portion of the road as a board for making a mixture of stone chips, sand and cement which often makes pedestrians and bikers face inconvenience. Such a situation is handled simply but here a line was drawn between the scheduled caste people and the upper caste people.
A section of media reported that the incident was all for a four-wheeler for a ride to drink wine, demand for which was made by the upper caste people from one Dalit family which refused to oblige resulting in the alleged assault.
Officer in charge of the Parwa police station Rupesh Dubey said that this demand for the four-wheeler for a ride to drink wine has been made out in one of the FIRs but preliminary investigation of the police finds this complaint untrue. The issue of wine and vehicle is not at the crux of the atrocities
“The cause of the alleged scuffle is different,” said OC Dubey.
OC Dubey said that one Dalit family had some ‘gitti masala’ work right on the road which was objected by the upper caste people citing such construction materials on the road as a hindrance to public movement and traffic and then first started a verbal duel between the scheduled caste family and the upper caste people.
Later a dozen upper caste people again reached the house of the scheduled caste family and indulged in the assault with ‘lathi danda’.
One Dalit sustained head injuries while a few more were hurt, not any seriously.
Shankar said that police have invoked sections of the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe prevention of the atrocities act and police raids are on to nab the culprits.
Police officer Dubey said in one FIR lodged by Mahavir Ram, the complainant of the FIR, has named 15 upper caste people for the violence and assault. Mahavir Ram owns the four-wheeler which has been partially damaged too by the upper caste people.
“The second FIR has been lodged by another scheduled caste complainant Sanjay Ram. Sanjay has accused 4 upper caste people. These 4 named accused in the FIR so lodged by Sanjay Ram, also finds mention of them in the 15 named accused FIR lodged by Mahavir Ram,” said OC Dubey
“Police will do a transparent and professional investigation and no culprit who has taken law unto hands will be any spared,” OC Dubey added.
