Skip to main content

Damocles' sword on Gujarat Dalits? "False" FIR charging 16 of murder of cop wouldn't be taken back: Minister

Minister (extreme left) with Dalit delegation
In a development that is likely to be further exacerbate tension between protesting Dalits and the Gujarat government, a top state minister has declared that the state will not take back the crucial first information report (FIR) against 16 Dalits, books by the Amreli police under Section 302 (murder) of a cop on duty during a July 19 rally.
While those who have been booked assert that they were in no way involved in the death of the constable, Pankaj Amrelia, who allegedly died as he was hit by a stone while getting down from a police van, the minister told a Dalit group that the FIR “wouldn’t be taken back.”
However, he added, “There has been a compromise. There wouldn’t be any action against those whose names were put in the FIR”, an answer which did not satisfy the delegation.
On July 19, hundreds of Dalits took out a rally in Amreli, a major town of Saurashtra region, against the gruesome flogging of four Dalits in Una by cow vigilantes, an event which has triggered major protests across Gujarat and India.
After the FIR was lodged, Dalits regrouped in Amreli and took out another rally on August 8 with the participation of about 800 to protest against the “false” charge of murder in the FIR levelled against the 16 Dalits.
This was followed by 46 members of the families of the Dalits, against whom the FIR was lodged, to sit in protest in front of the Amreli district collectorate office for 31 days, till September 7. The sit-in ended after the district collector met the victims and assured them that “no action would be taken against them.”
However, as the Dalits’ demand for taking back the FIR was not met, the Dalit activists’ delegation led by well-known Dalit rights activist Rajesh Solanki called on social justice and empowerment minister Atmaram Parmar in Gandhinagar, the state capital.
“When I asked the minister if 90 per cent of the cases against the Patel agitators could be taken back, why couldn’t this one, which was totally false, couldn’t be taken back, he told me that I am whipping up the issue because of the forthcoming elections of the Gujarat state assembly”, Solanki told Counterview.
A local Dalit activist stationed in Amreli, attached with an Ahmedabad-based NGO Centre for Social Justice, said, “What is particularly perturbing is that, the police has even prepared a list of 49 other persons who were to be added in the FIR. These persons were to be added on the basis of the video footage of the rally on July 19.”
While this has so far not happened, there is a strong suspicion that the FIR would continue to remain as a Damocles’ sword on those named and others who have been “identified”.
Along with Solanki, those who met the minister on September 12 also included Kevalsinh Rathod, Piyush Sarvaiya, Jethabhai Chauhan, Kishor Sankhat and Harshvardhan Kataria. Earlier they made a similar representation to Ahmedabad Dalit MLA RM Patel, an ex-IAS bureaucrat, and MP Kirit Solanki.
The minister said, “You are not alone. Ten other groups have met me with a similar demand.” When told that those who had come were victims themselves, the minister, who saw the demands, replied, “I don’t see your demands here. You are preaching me.”

Comments

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.