In today’s editions, the leading newspapers of Kerala made no mention of the discharge of three injured Dalit women from the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital yesterday under pressure from the police and the Shiv Sena.
The newspapers had reported in yesterday’s editions that seven women were admitted to various hospitals after a sword attack in Thoduve colony of Varkala the previous night.
The three women whom the Shiv Sena took out of the Medical College Hospital and dumped in Thoduve colony last night were able to move out this morning to seek treatment. They are now in a hospital at Vamanapuram.
When they showed the discharge certificate issued at Thiruvananthapuram, the doctor at Vamanapuram asked why they had refused treatment at the Medical College hospital which was better equipped.
They told him that they were discharged forcibly from the Medical College Hospital. He informed them that the certificate says they were discharged as they did not want to be treated there.
Malayala Manorama, in a report from Thiruvananthapuram, said the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes Coordination Committee demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the continuing violence in the Dalit colonies after the recent murders in Varkala.
The meeting, presided over by P. K. Sukumaran, demanded tracing of the anti-social elements responsible for stripping and assaulting two innocent Dalit women after B. R. P. Bhaskar’s visit to Thoduve colony and for the sword attack on about eight women who had participated in the dharna organized by the Dalit Janadhipathya Munnani outside the Varkala police station.
Showing posts with label Shiv Sena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shiv Sena. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shiv Sena spirits away injured Dalit women from Medical College Hospital
Under pressure from police and Shiv Sena, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College authorities today discharged three of the four women who were brought there with injuries following last night’s attack on Dalit residents of Thoduve colony in Varkala.
According to reports published this morning, eight Dalit women were injured in the attack by Shiv Sena men. The police and the media, following the practice of the past five weeks, scrupulously kept the Shiv Sena's name out of the reports.
According to the police story, the attack in which swords were used, was a clash between two groups over drawing water from the spring.
From early today the Medical Collehe Hospital came under pressure from the police to send out the four women who were admitted there, apparently to lighten the gravity of the case that has been registered. The pressure became intense after Shiv Sena men converged on the hospital.
Initially the doctors resisted the pressure but eventually they buckled. They said one woman was not in a fit condition to be moved but agreed to discharge the others.
The Shiv Sena men took the women away in a hired vehicle. They told friends and relatives of the injured that they would be admitted to the Chirayinkeezh hospital. This was a matter of some relief inasmuch as it meant that they would not go without treatment. However it turned out to be a false hope. Instead of taking the women to the taluk hospital, the Shiv Sena men dumped them in their Thoduve colony homes.
When the women tried to leave for the hospital on their own late in the evening, the police, who have been posted in the colony after yesterday’s attack, stopped them, saying it was unsafe for them to go out of the colony. They are now hoping to be able to move out in the morning.
This report is based on information conveyed by Dalits of Thoduve as well as human rights defenders who are in touch with them. Bits of information were posted in network sites as and when received.
According to reports published this morning, eight Dalit women were injured in the attack by Shiv Sena men. The police and the media, following the practice of the past five weeks, scrupulously kept the Shiv Sena's name out of the reports.
According to the police story, the attack in which swords were used, was a clash between two groups over drawing water from the spring.
From early today the Medical Collehe Hospital came under pressure from the police to send out the four women who were admitted there, apparently to lighten the gravity of the case that has been registered. The pressure became intense after Shiv Sena men converged on the hospital.
Initially the doctors resisted the pressure but eventually they buckled. They said one woman was not in a fit condition to be moved but agreed to discharge the others.
The Shiv Sena men took the women away in a hired vehicle. They told friends and relatives of the injured that they would be admitted to the Chirayinkeezh hospital. This was a matter of some relief inasmuch as it meant that they would not go without treatment. However it turned out to be a false hope. Instead of taking the women to the taluk hospital, the Shiv Sena men dumped them in their Thoduve colony homes.
When the women tried to leave for the hospital on their own late in the evening, the police, who have been posted in the colony after yesterday’s attack, stopped them, saying it was unsafe for them to go out of the colony. They are now hoping to be able to move out in the morning.
This report is based on information conveyed by Dalits of Thoduve as well as human rights defenders who are in touch with them. Bits of information were posted in network sites as and when received.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dalits stage peaceful, orderly protest outside Varkala police station
About 1,000 Dalits, mostly women, staged a dharna outside the Varkala police station this afternoon to protest against the police-Shiv Sena assault on Dalit colonies.
The dharna was under the auspices of an umbrella organization called Dalit Janaadhipathya Aikyamunnani (Dalit Democratic United Front).
The protestors marched through the main road, raising slogans, before converging in front of the police station. Both the march and the dharna were peaceful and orderly.
The preponderance of women in the demonstration is easily explained. The Dalit men are hiding fearing arrest and torture.
A notice distributed by Aikyamunnani says, “Sivaprasad, an ordinary person, was killed while on a morning walk in Varkala. Whoever committed this inhuman murder, democratic society has to condemn it. Also, the culprits must be brought before the law and punished. But following the murder the leaders and workers of Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) have been jailed. They have even been refused bail. Besides, under cover of the Varkala incident, the entire Dalit community is being portrayed as terrorists. They have even coined a term Dalit Terrorism. What are the facts that prompt them to do this? It is nothing else. All across Kerala today the message is spreading that Dalits are no longer willing to drink the bitter juice of neglect and remain as slaves. The stamp of terrorism is put on Dalits in order to nip these awakenings in the bud. The Savarna strategy of mobilizing the entire society against Dalits is also behind it. The ruling establishment had earlier fabricated the false equation Muslim equals Terrorism. Today, through the Varkala incident, it is being extended to the Dalits.”
I inaugurated the dharna. PUCL state secretary Advocate P. A. Pauran and several Dalit leaders addressed the meeting. Pauran and I took the opportunity to reassure the Dalits that in the state and the country there is a civil society which understands their problem and is with them in their struggle for equality and equal opportunity.
During the weekend the Aikyamunnani had put up posters announcing the dharna. The posters had said I would be inaugurating the dharna. This provoked the Shiv Sena to launch a poster campaign of its own. Its posters called for investigation of my links with “NDF extremists”, the sources of my finances and the presence of “an ISI spy” during my visit to Dalit colonies as a member of a fact-finding team on October 18. I was for ignoring the Shiv Sena’s silly campaign but some young activists thought the vicious campaign needed to be countered. It was their effort that resulted in a joint statement by some prominent persons deploring the campaign of communal fascists.
The dharna was under the auspices of an umbrella organization called Dalit Janaadhipathya Aikyamunnani (Dalit Democratic United Front).
The protestors marched through the main road, raising slogans, before converging in front of the police station. Both the march and the dharna were peaceful and orderly.
The preponderance of women in the demonstration is easily explained. The Dalit men are hiding fearing arrest and torture.
A notice distributed by Aikyamunnani says, “Sivaprasad, an ordinary person, was killed while on a morning walk in Varkala. Whoever committed this inhuman murder, democratic society has to condemn it. Also, the culprits must be brought before the law and punished. But following the murder the leaders and workers of Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) have been jailed. They have even been refused bail. Besides, under cover of the Varkala incident, the entire Dalit community is being portrayed as terrorists. They have even coined a term Dalit Terrorism. What are the facts that prompt them to do this? It is nothing else. All across Kerala today the message is spreading that Dalits are no longer willing to drink the bitter juice of neglect and remain as slaves. The stamp of terrorism is put on Dalits in order to nip these awakenings in the bud. The Savarna strategy of mobilizing the entire society against Dalits is also behind it. The ruling establishment had earlier fabricated the false equation Muslim equals Terrorism. Today, through the Varkala incident, it is being extended to the Dalits.”
I inaugurated the dharna. PUCL state secretary Advocate P. A. Pauran and several Dalit leaders addressed the meeting. Pauran and I took the opportunity to reassure the Dalits that in the state and the country there is a civil society which understands their problem and is with them in their struggle for equality and equal opportunity.
During the weekend the Aikyamunnani had put up posters announcing the dharna. The posters had said I would be inaugurating the dharna. This provoked the Shiv Sena to launch a poster campaign of its own. Its posters called for investigation of my links with “NDF extremists”, the sources of my finances and the presence of “an ISI spy” during my visit to Dalit colonies as a member of a fact-finding team on October 18. I was for ignoring the Shiv Sena’s silly campaign but some young activists thought the vicious campaign needed to be countered. It was their effort that resulted in a joint statement by some prominent persons deploring the campaign of communal fascists.
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