Resume Dalit colony visits: SC/STs tell police

Mangalore, September 2: Members of the Dalit community have requested the police to resume visiting Dalit colonies across the district as a confidence building measure.

Speaking at the monthly grievance meeting of the SC/STs held at the SP's office in Mangalore on Sunday, a Dalit representative said that a few years ago, police jeeps would patrol Dalit areas on a regular basis but of late, it has been stopped.

The regular visits used to help checking atrocities against Dalits and also acted as a confidence building measure, he said, requesting that the patrolling be resumed by police personnel of police stations of respective villages.

Responding to the request, ASP Anuchet who chaired the meeting in the absence of Abhishek Goyal, SP, said that the police would consider it.

Vishwanath, another Dalit representative raised the issue of members of Dalit community being made to intimidate fellow community members by upper castes. A certain Sunil Rai had threatened him by bringing other Dalits along with him, he said. Other Dalit leaders present at the meet, also asked the ASP to take the matter seriously stating that a 'conspiracy' is being deployed by the upper castes to turn Dalits against their fellow community members.

The ASP said that he would look into the threat allegations but appealed to the members of the community to also try to solve the matter internally as to why their own community members are turning against them.

Another Dalit representative said that representatives from Ambedkar Abhivraddhi Nigama and Department of Social Welfare must also be invited to the monthly grievance meets of the SC/STs as issues raised in the meet also concerned them.