It is said death is a great leveller but a dalit activist from Namakkal begs to differ. Discrimination of dalits continues even after their death, he says.
Appearing before the two-day open hearing of complaints relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes held by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) here, Mr K. Ravi, Namakkal district secretary of Puthiya Thamizhagam, questioned the rationale behind the existence of an exclusive burial ground for dalits which he claimed effectively denies them access to the common Hindu burial ground.
After hearing Mr Ravi’s complaint that the collector did not act on his petition, NHRC member Justice B.C. Patel termed the complaint as a serious violation of human rights and asked the authorities to take action within four weeks.
Several complaints of denial of promotional opportunities, non-cooperation of police in filing complaints, inaction of government authorities, among others, poured in on the first day of hearing by NHRC members Justice Patel and Satyabrata Pal.
After the horrifying honour killing recently in which a dalit man was killed by a girl’s family in Thanjavur, Justice Patel recommended the state pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act and provide a government job for the girl.
Justice Patel asked the chief secretary to act against the Chennai city police commissioner, Tiruvannamalai SP and Coimbatore district collector for not turning up for the hearing.
He also asked Coimbatore district collector to pay Rs 1,000 each as compensation to the three petitioners whose hearing could not be taken up in his absence.
Inaugurating the hearing, commission chairman Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said NHRC was reaching out to marginalised and poor sections of villagers as atrocities against SCs was more prevalent in the rural areas.
He said 99 per cent of NHRC’s recommendations were complied with by various states and he was happy about it.