There is fear among SC community members, says rights panel chief | Kolkata - Hindustan Times
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There is fear among SC community members, says rights panel chief

By, Hindustan Times, Kolkata
May 15, 2021 03:36 AM IST

Helpless Dalit families have left their homes at two villages in East Burdwan and South 24 Parganas districts that he visited, Sampla claimed in Kolkata.

The chairman of the National Commission for Schedules Castes (NCSC), Vijay Sampla, who toured Bengal for two days to look into allegations of political attacks on members of the SC community after the assembly polls, said on Friday that those he met were living in fear.

National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Vijay Sampla during press conference in Chandigarh on Sunday. (HT Photo)
National Commission for Scheduled Castes chairman Vijay Sampla during press conference in Chandigarh on Sunday. (HT Photo)

“The experience these people shared with me are similar to the ones we heard from our elders who witnessed the carnage in 1947. There is fear among members of the SC community because police helped the miscreants. The administration is inactive,” Sampla told reporters.

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His statement came hours after Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar went to Dhubri district in Assam and said the fear he saw in the eyes of people who allegedly fled from north Bengal to escape post-poll violence could not be described in words.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has complained that its supporters were targeted by workers of the Trinamool Congress after the latter swept the assembly elections in the state. The BJP and he TMC fought a bitter battle which the former expected to win, but eventually the latter won 213 of the 292 assembly seats in the state. While the TMC has denied the charges, leaders of the Left Front have said their workers are also being targeted after the poll results were announced on May 2.

Bengal has 294 seats. Polling in two seats will be held later as two candidates died of Covid-19.

The ministry of home affairs was quick to take cognisance; and several commissions and bodies including the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights have also written to state authorities.

Helpless Dalit families have left their homes at two villages in East Burdwan and South 24 Parganas districts that he visited, Sampla claimed in Kolkata.

A five-member team of the commission visited East Burdwan on Thursday. It was accompanied by the district magistrate and superintendent of police.

“Houses were attacked in Burdwan town as well. People left their homes in panic,” Sampla said.

He alleged that the state police did not follow provisions in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which says a first information report (FIR) must be drawn and arrests made when a complaint is received. The affected Dalit families did not receive compensation and list of the victims had not been prepared by the administration, Sampla added.

“We have asked the state government to dismiss these police officers and take legal action,” he said.

The NCSC team however did not visit the family of Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker Bibhas Bag who was also killed in the clashes at Nabagram, reported news agency PTI.

When asked about this, Sampla said the commission was only visiting those from whom complaints were received.

Sampla and his team also visited Milikpara in East Burdwan on Thursday and spoke to people affected by post-poll violence. The team held a meeting with the district administration.

Sampla on Thursday said he found evidence of atrocities perpetrated on a Dalit family at Nabagram. He tried to meet the family of CPI(M) worker Ashish Khetrapal, whose wife, Kakali, was killed on May 3. The house was locked. After receiving information that some of the injured people were in a hospital, Sampla met them.

The NCSC issued a statement that said: , “They were in tears while narrating the horrific incident in which his (Ashish) wife was killed and his brother was grievously injured.”

Senior TMC legislator and party spokesperson Tapas Roy said, “The BJP is trying its best to malign Bengal. It did the same thing before the polls. It only shows how vindictive they are towards the people of Bengal and the elected government. These tactics will not work.”

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