CPM demands justice in Dalit family murder

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) The CPI (M) today demanded the arrests of those responsible for the brutal killing of a Dalit famility at Khairlanji village in Bhandara district of Maharashtra in September.

A Dalit woman, her daughter and two sons were lynched after the women were savagely raped and the two young men mutilated. Four policemen have been suspended for negligence of duty.

The CPI (M) said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'People's Democracy' that cases should be filed against all the police officials who have connived to destroy evidence.

''The Khairlanji atrocity is a cruel reminder of the plight of Dalits in the country,'' the editorial said. ''The shocking part of the entire episode is how the police callously sought to cover up this terrible crime. It is only weeks after the incident that the full truth came to be known to the outside world.'' The CPI (M) said caste oppression and atrocities against Dalits are regularly recorded as statistics of crimes against Scheduled Castes.

In recent figures released for 2005, the cases of crimes committed against Scheduled Castes show that three states - Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - recorded 46 per cent of the total number of cases.

''These include murder, rape, arson and other serious crimes.

Such oppression takes place all over the country,'' the editorial said.

In the south too, Andhra Pradesh recorded 11.9 per cent of the cases and Karnataka 6.8 per cent. While atrocities against dalits are noted, decried and condemned periodically, what is ignored are the hard social realities facing the dalit people, the party said.

It said in the villages, the land is still the central issue where they are oppressed and exploited with a bulk of them being landless.

''Untouchability and degrading practices are still widespread.

The Khairlanji brutality must be viewed in this overall context of the shameful and continuing dalit oppression,'' the editorial said.

It said reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in education and jobs are but a limited palliative. Even these quotas are now being opposed and sought to be whittled down, the editorial said adding the recent Supreme Court judgement seeking to extend the creamy layer concept to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reservation indicates how far removed from reality is the ruling order including the higher judiciary.

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