Skip to main content

Discriminatory to take back cases against Patidar quota agitators: Dalit rights body

By A Representative
The Gyati Nirmulan Samiti (GMS), a grassroots Dalit rights organization of Gujarat, has strongly protested against the manner in which the state government has been allegedly seeking to take back cases against those belonging to non-Dalit and non-Adivasi individuals.
Asserting that this is being done on a mass scale, GMS said, this is "discriminatory", and is being done to please the dominant caste people. "No cases registered against Dalits and Adivasis are being taken back", said GMS convener Sanjay Parmar in a letter submitted to KA Punj, who heads an inquiry commission the state government set up under the chairmanship of retired High Court judge KA Punj said, "This is being done purely for political reasons."
The letter has also been signed by GMS co-convener Rajesh Solanki, a Dalit rights advocate.
In a reported bid to placate the Patidar community, the Gujarat government last year announced setting up of the commission of inquiry headed under Punj to probe alleged police atrocities on members of the community during the violent agitation for OBC quota, which took place three years ago.
Apart from looking into whether the cases could be taken back, the commission is said to be looking into the needs of the agitating communities which are outside the purview of reservations, especially Patidars (Patels), who have been demanding a quota.
"Efforts to take back cases against individuals of particular castes and communities is not in the interest of the general people", the letter said, "Serious cases of violence, include those concerning sedition", the letter, copies of which were handed over to the state home secretary and the chief secretary, states.
It demands, not only cases should not be taken back, those involved in violent incidents should be tried without any bias or prejudice, and the state government should reimburse the amount equal to the property destroyed by the dominant caste agitators.

Comments

TRENDING

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor*  Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The politics of dreaming: Savita Singh's feminist imagination

By Ravi Ranjan*  In contemporary Hindi poetry, few voices have explored the philosophical and creative possibilities of women's experience as powerfully as Savita Singh. Across collections such as "Svapna Samay" (Dream Time), Aapne Jaisa Jeevan, and "Prem Bhi Ek Yatana" Hai, she has developed a poetic world in which woman is not merely a subject of suffering or social commentary but a creator of knowledge, meaning, and alternative realities.