Mangalore, April 3: Representatives of Dalits have urged the district police to take appropriate measures to effectively implement the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act-1989 in Dakshina Kannada, as in many instances the cases filed by Dalits end up with a “compromise”.
The voice against finalising the cases filed by Dalits, especially Dalit women was raised during the monthly grievance meeting of SC/ST as usually held at the office of Superintendent of Police here on Sunday. However, the new SP of DK Labu Ram, who was supposed to hear the grievances of the people of marginalised section, was not present in the meeting, due to unavoidable reasons.
T Sarvothama Pai, Superintendent of Police, Citizen Rights Implementation Directorate and BJ Bhandari, DySP of Mangalore DCRB responded to the questions and problems raised by the participants of meeting.
P Keshava, a Dalit leader said that even though police register a case in crimes against Dalits, later, they settle them with compromises. “There are dozens of such instances in the district. In many instances where Dalit women were cheated by men after developing sexual contact under the pretext of love, the police have played the role of brokers to make compromise between two parties, apparently to help the accused,” he said, questioning if it is just to finish a criminal case with a compromise? Criminals should be punished, especially in atrocity cases, he argued.
Bhandari said that police abide by the law in all cases and according to law, atrocity cases should be handled by the police officer of the rank of DySP or above. “Normally, the inquiry of atrocity cases go on the supervision of SP and hence, there are less chances of accused using their influence to bring an end to the case under the pretext of compromise,” he said adding that “If those who had lodged complaint, choose to withdraw it, you cannot blame the police”.
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