annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights
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INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Uttar Pradesh<br />
brick-kiln at Pipra Jatampur village under<br />
the Kubersthan police station in<br />
Kushinagar district. The victims were<br />
workers at the brick-kiln. 32 Initially the<br />
police had allegedly refused to lodge a<br />
case. Only after the visit of Deputy<br />
Inspector General of Police on 26<br />
February 2004, three days after the rape,<br />
the case was registered. 33<br />
On 15 June 2004, an NGO, Bachpan<br />
Bachao Andolan, carried out a raid in the<br />
Great Roman Circus at Gonda, following a<br />
complaint filed by the parents of 11 girls,<br />
and rescued some of them. The others<br />
could not be freed as the district authorities<br />
had allegedly “tipped off” the circus<br />
management which had hid them. The<br />
minor girls were allegedly <strong>for</strong>ced to work<br />
as bonded labourers and sexually<br />
exploited by the owners. 34<br />
IV. Atrocities against the Dalits<br />
In Uttar Pradesh, many tehsil officials<br />
have allegedly openly joined hands with<br />
members of upper castes to usurp the lands<br />
of the tribals, backwards or Dalits. In one<br />
such instance, in Manikpur in tehsil Karvi<br />
in Chitrakoot district in 1994, the police<br />
filed complaints against Nayab Tehsildar<br />
under sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of<br />
Indian Penal Code accusing him of<br />
manipulating revenue records to show<br />
living people as dead with a view to let<br />
affluent people from upper caste usurp the<br />
land of lower caste people. In this case, 21<br />
people including two were Kanungoes and<br />
three lekhpals were named as accused. The<br />
district administration took necessary<br />
action and returned the lands to the owners.<br />
But, in the meantime, land mafia came into<br />
picture and obtained a stay order from the<br />
court. Since then the pleas of the petitioners<br />
were allegedly not heard. In Ajitpara village<br />
of Banda district, 22 people were shown as<br />
dead and their lands had been given to<br />
others. The case filed in the in court has<br />
been dragging <strong>for</strong> the last one decade. 35<br />
Yet, the Cabinet of State government<br />
decided on 26 July 2004 to introduce<br />
amendments in the UP Zamindari Abolition<br />
and Land Re<strong>for</strong>ms Act 1950 to lift the ban<br />
on sale of land owned by Dalit farmers. As<br />
per the existing act, any dalit owning 3.125<br />
acres or less land is not allowed to sell the<br />
same to non-dalits. Lifting of the ban would<br />
pave the way <strong>for</strong> malpractices and atrocities<br />
and violence by the upper castes against the<br />
Dalits will intensify in order to <strong>for</strong>ce them<br />
to sell their lands. 36<br />
On 2 March 2004, two Dalits were<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly shot dead at Gopiganj area in<br />
Bhadohi district by gunmen. The cause<br />
leading to the killing was believed to be a<br />
dispute over cultivation. An FIR was<br />
registered against four people in this<br />
connection but no arrest was made. 37<br />
On the evening of 25 July 2004, upper<br />
caste members allegedly pulled down the<br />
house of Gaya Prasad, a Dalit at Dulapur<br />
village of Sultanpur district. The upper<br />
caste members also set ablaze two<br />
thetched houses and roughed up a woman<br />
in the same village. Gaya Prasad<br />
<strong>report</strong>edly lodged a complaint with the<br />
police and a case was registered in the<br />
Mushiganj police station. 38<br />
249