annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Andhra Pradesh
incident took place when the TDP had
given a call for strike in Anantapur district
to protest against such incidents. In early
September 2004, TDP alleged that 30 TDP
workers including 14 in Anantapur alone
were killed in political violence sporead
over 127 villages in 15 districts. 31
In Anantapur district, 182 political
workers were reportedly killed between
1992 and 2004. They included 96
Congressmen and 86 TDP workers. In
2004, 30 TDP men and 19 Congressmen
were reportedly killed in 16 districts in
Andhra Pradesh. They included 17 TDP
and 9 Congress workers in Rayala Seema
region. The Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet
in its meeting on 17 September 2004
reportedly ordered a judicial inquiry into
the factional violence and killings in
Anantapur district of Rayala Seema region
during the last 15 years. 32
IV. Atrocities against the Dalits
The Dalits continued to suffer from
physical violence at the hands of the upper
caste Hindus. They were also denied
access to public places such as places of
worship, water wells etc.
After a Dalit teen, Tukaram of Allapur
in Medak district offered prayers at the
village Hanuman Temple after securing
first class in his intermediate examination
on 24 May 2004, the upper caste Reddys
and Yadavs in the village allegedly issued
a diktat, prohibiting the 75 Dalit families
living in Allapur from shopping from the
upper castes or drawing water. The upper
caste villagers summoned Tukaram’s
6
father, Tulsiram, and reprimanded him on
24 May 2004 itself. Not satisfied with his
apology, they imposed Rs 500 fine on him.
On 29 May 2004, the upper caste Hindus
had the entire temple complex cleaned
with cow urine and conducted special
pujas to “cleanse” the temple from the
“imprints of untouchables” The Dalits
were also stopped from entering the
community centre and doing any
agricultural work in the village. 33
On 22 October 2004, members of the
upper caste allegedly prevented P
Pentaiah, a Dalit Sarpanch of Peda
Amberpet under Hayat Nagar police
station in Hyderabad city from entering
Hanuman Temple and offering the Ravana
Dahanakanda rituals. He was also
allegedly beaten up and abused. 34
In Depur village of Nellore district,
the Dalits were denied access to the water
wells. The dalit women were often not
allowed to dip their buckets into the wells
and made to wait for hours to get water.
Only after the members of the upper caste
Reddy community were completed with
filling their buckets first, they were
allowed to draw water. Sometimes, they
had to wait all day to get their bucket
filled. Dalits cannot wear slippers or ride
bicycles in the upper castes area. In school,
Dalit children were made to sit separately
from the upper castes. 35
In February 2004, the NHRC
reportedly intervened into the plight of a
minor Dalit girl who gave birth to a child
after an upper caste man in a village in West
Godavari district had allegedly raped her. 36