Title: Need to make existing provisions of the law more stringent with a view to check caste based discrimination and atrocities against Dalits.- Laid.
(NAGAR KURNOOL) : Although untouchability stands abolished under the Constitution of India, but it is still virulent, assuming dangerous proportions. Atrocities against Dalits are on the increase in the country. I quote some latest harrowing instances stating how the Dalits are being treated in this free country even after 56 years of Independence. The upper caste people reportedly thrashed the members of Dalit marriage party with lathis and sticks in the village of Eklera in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan because the bridegroom was riding a mare. This happened in May 2003. In another instance, the two Scheduled Caste boys of Nuagaon village near Bhubaneshwar were allegedly paraded naked by their employer for demanding clearance of dues. This was not the end of torture. They were reportedly made to walk on their knees for half-a-kilometer and were made to drink urine when they asked for water. This happened in June 2003. This is not the end. Over 70 Dalits were injured, seven of them seriously, when Members of the Thakur community opened fire on them following a dispute over a piece of land at a village in district Mau, Uttar Pradesh. Recently this demon of castes raised its ugly head in Pyapili of Kurnool district. The Dalits were attacked for taking a procession for immersion of a Ganesh idol.
I urge upon the Government to make the existing stringent and severest in order to put down caste based discrimination and atrocities against the Dalits.
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