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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Punjab
IV. Atrocities against the Dalits
Dalits faced all forms of
discrimination from denial of minimum
wages to the denial of entry to temples,
land grabbing and killings. The police
have also been responsible for abuses
against the Dalits.
On 26 January 2004, a Dalit family in
Pathankot in Gurdaspur district alleged
that police personnel of the Basroop police
post near Pathankot forcibly evicted them
from their house and axed more than 500
trees in alleged connivance with members
of a land mafia. A police party headed by
two Assistant Sub- Inspectors raided the
house at Basroop village on 13 December
2003 and forcibly took them to the police
station. The policemen abused and beat
them up. They were also allegedly forced
to remove clothes and were booked in an
alleged false case. 57
On 6 February 2004, SHO of
Kathgarh police station, Paramjit Singh
reportedly picked up Kuldip Kumar, a
Scheduled Caste from his residence at
Katgarh village in Nawnshahr district of
Punjab on the basis of a complaint filed by
his brother-in-law Jeewan Pal, for
marrying Rishi Bala, an upper caste girl, in
October 2003. The SHO also allegedly
verbally abused Kuldip’s father Sakhi
Chand. In the police station, Kuldip was
beaten with lathis for two hours due to
which his left arm was fractured and his
right hand and both feet were injured. He
was released only after 35-40 residents of
the locality surrounded the police station
in protest. Rishi Bala also corroborated the
allegations saying they have been
receiving threats of dire consequences
from Jeewan Pal and others. She
maintained that Jeewan Pal was against
their marriage although her parents and
others in Brahmin-dominated Kathgarh
village had no objection to it. 58 Kuldip
allegedly became unconscious due to
beating and had to be admitted at a
hospital in Balachaur. He was later shifted
to the Civil Hospital, Balachaur. 59 The
accused SHO was later booked and
arrested under Sections 323, 325, 342 and
120 B of the Indian Penal Code after an
inquiry held by Superintendent of Police
(Detective) found him guilty of illegally
detaining and torturing Kuldip. 60
A 14-year-old minor Dalit girl of Aluk
Singh village in Amritsar district working
as a maid in a teacher’s house, was
allegedly abducted and raped by
Sukhwinder Singh and Manjit Singh when
she was returning to her house on 27 April
2004. The accused were reportedly
arrested under Sections 376, 506, 342, 323
and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. 61
Kewal Singh, a Dalit youth and
resident of Jhaloor village under Barnala
police station in Sangrur district was
allegedly beaten to death on 6 June 2004
by his landlords - Mahinder Singh and
Paramjit Singh of Jhaloor village. Kewal’s
fault was that he defied the order of his
landlords to work in new fields in
Pharwahi village, instead of his usual duty
in Jhaloor village fields. 62
On 9 June 2004, Jagir Singh, a Dalit
resident of Kuttianwali village under
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