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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Rajasthan
Nayak were injured when police
lathicharged thousands of agitating
farmers at Anupgarh and Gharsana in
Sriganganagar district. The farmers were
agitating for the release of more water
from the Indira Gandhi canal for the rabi
season. Nearly 600 farmers were also
taken into custody at the two places.
Majority of them were sent to jails in
Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu and
Bikaner districts. 19
On 5 December 2004, the
Sriganganagar district police reportedly
booked many senior leaders of Kisan
Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti,
including Hetram Beniwal, Vallabh
Kochher and Saheb Ram Punia, under the
National Security Act (NSA). The
Divisional Commissioner of Bikaner,
Shreemat Pandey, confirmed the
registration of the cases under the NSA. 20
On 21 December 2004, Pramaram, a
jeep driver from Pareth village under
Kishangarh block in Ajmer district was
brutally beaten up by a policeman at
Shyamnagar in Jaipur city for driving into
the middle of the road while the traffic jam
was being cleared. The policemen
allegedly hit Pramaram on his head and
face that caused profuse bleeding. A case
was reportedly registered against the
accused policemen. 21
III. Atrocities against the Dalits
The Dalits remained insecure and
vulnerable to oppression. They faced gross
violation of their rights including denial by
so-called upper caste men of access to
places of worship. This is despite the
Rajasthan High Court order of 1988
directed the State Government to ensure
unhindered access of the Dalits to the
temple.
The State Government made little
attempt to award justice to the Dalits. On
13 October 2004, the Rajasthan High
Court issued notice to the state Chief
Secretary on a petition seeking initiation
of contempt proceedings against him for
the state government’s failure to table the
report of the Justice SK Lodha Commissio
in the Assembly. The Lodha Commission
appointed by the then BJP-led government
to probe into the infamous massacre of 17
Dalits by a mob of upper castes in Kumher
town of Bharatpur district on 6 June 1992.
The Lodha Commission had submitted its
report in August 1996. The High Court had
on 9 September 2002 reportedly directed
the state government to lay the Lodha
Commission’s report in the Assembly as
early as possible; but the same has not
been tabled in the Assembly at the end of
2004. 22
On 2 January 2004, Dalit activists
from New Delhi participating in a National
Dalit Swadhikar rally, organised by the
National Campaign on Dalit Human
Rights, were reportedly denied entry into
the famous Shrinath temple, where they
reached after covering 16 districts in
Rajasthan. The convener of the Centre for
Dalit Human Rights, P.L. Mimroth, who
was part of the rally along with 34 other
dalit activists, alleged that hundreds of
local residents, majority of whom were
215