Jagan says TDP behind murder of YSRCP’s Dalit activist
During the conversation, Salman’s brother reportedly detailed the alleged atrocities of local TDP leaders in Pinnelli village. VIJAYAWADA: Former chief minister and YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy strongly condemned the killing of party activist Manda Salman in Palnadu district. Expressing outrage, he said law and order in the State had completely deteriorated and alleged that the Dalit activist was unjustly murdered by TDP leaders. He remarked that attacks on YSRCP workers and leaders had become routine, while police, instead of offering protection, were colluding with ruling party leaders. Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke to Salman’s brother over the phone, conveyed his condolences, and assured the family that the party would stand firmly by them. He promised that once the YSRCP returns to power, strict action would be taken against those responsible. During the conversation, Salman’s brother reportedly detailed the alleged atrocities of local TDP leaders in Pinnelli village. The former chief minister urged party workers not to panic, assuring them of full support from the party. He emphasised that justice would be ensured under due process of law once YSRCP regains power. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
10 Years Later, Rohith Vemula’s Fight Remains Dalit Students’ Reality
Nothing will change until society and academia decide to preach, propagate, and practice the ideas of Babasaheb. Exactly 10 years ago, Rohith Vemula, a 28-year-old Dalit student and PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, died by suicide. Along with him, four other students had been expelled for raising their voices against their suspension, a practice that had become rampant in the university. Their access to the hostel, mess, administrative buildings, and common rooms were revoked—and their scholarships were put on hold. Rohith, along with his friends, protested against this act of injustice in the open, with a photo of Babasaheb Ambedkar by their side. But even in the face of widespread outrage and sustained agitation, the university refused to revoke their expulsion. At last, Rohith could not take it any longer. Nothing will change until society and academia decide to preach, propagate, and practice the ideas of Babasaheb. An Ambedkarite, Rohith was a voice of reason who was vocal on social issues. His death was not merely a personal tragedy, but a case of institutional failure. An Ambedkarite, Rohith was a voice of reason who was vocal on social issues. His death was not merely a personal tragedy, but a case of institutional failure—a fate that has long plagued Dalit students and that of oppressed castes for generations in the ecosphere of Indian educational institutions. For generations, oppressed-caste students have been cornered, harassed, and pushed to breaking point in hostile academic environments. Rohith’s death created much furore and sparked a spate of protests across various educational institutions in India. Students and citizens took to streets in opposition to such instances of caste-discrimination-related deaths—and criticised this very visible act of apartheid. Professors, who were critical of the university’s complicity in driving Rohith to his death, were suspended. Some others resigned in the face of such a brutal case of discrimination. In spite of these acts of defiance and dissent, and much noise and agitation, a crucial question remains: what came of these struggles? What has changed in the decade since Rohith Vemula’s death? What ensued was a deliberate reframing of caste and the discrimination it produces—transforming it from a lived social oppression into a contested political question. Rohith’s life couldn’t incite the support, resources, or opportunities he deserved, but his death was instrumentalised for this. The issue that once centred Rohith soon erased him. He was pushed to the back of a protest that he had started, the repercussions for which he faced alone. The reason for this was his oppressed caste background, one that left him bereft of socio-economic capital and political means to survive the casteist atmosphere of Indian educational institutions. This lack of resources made him vulnerable to attacks on his character and mental health, followed by coercive attempts to delegitimise his identity. Such vilification of marginalised students has long been used to enforce and justify the caste-based notions of purity and pollution, thereby legitimating caste discrimination in educational instructions. A preventable tragedy was deliberately overshadowed by turning it into a political issue, so as to put it to rest. Ten years since Rohith’s death, little has changed in the plight of marginalised students in Indian educational institutions. According to a report in The Wire, between 2019 and 2021, 98 Dalit students died by suicide across various educational institutions in India—a number so jarring it should have awakened the consciousness of the society. But the answer is one of negation. In 2019, Dr Payal Tadvi, a 26-year-old student belonging to a tribal community, died by suicide at the hostel of a government-run hospital in Mumbai. Dr Tadvi was repeatedly harassed by her seniors with caste slurs. The case lingered on with no delivery of justice. Nothing will change until society and academia decide to preach, propagate, and practice the ideas of Babasaheb. Dr Payal Tadvi was repeatedly harassed by her seniors with caste slurs. The case lingered on with no delivery of justice. In January 2025, the Supreme Court of India ordered the University Grants Commission (UGC) to submit a report on the instances of caste discriminations in Indian educational institutions. What came to light was an astonishing fact. In the academic year 2023-24, 1,503 instances of caste discriminations were recorded across 3,522 institutions in India, out of which only 1,426 cases were followed up with further procedures. These figures are but instances that were reported to relevant authorities. Most of such instances go unreported, for fear of inviting the violence of the upper caste communities. The Numbers That Refuse to Disappear Caste is the social structure on which the Indian society rests, shaping all aspects of life, including politics. Much of the politics in India is governed, driven, and affected by its society. It is a sum total of this very dual character of caste that marginalised students don’t have access to resources, privileges, and capital. Although reservation is a constitutional right, it is routinely ignored in elite institutions such as the IITs and IIMs, which have been long regarded as the bastions in the field of science and technology. This isn’t an isolated instance of overrepresentation of upper caste students in Indian educational institutions but an everyday reality of Dalit or Adivasi students, who, despite having secured enough marks, checking off qualification rules, and following due process, have been repeatedly denied admissions in Indian educational spaces for generations together. With these many hurdles, the process of access to educational spaces in India thus in itself become a punishment. In a caste-driven society like India, one’s caste decides who will be able to avail education. It is in this aspect that the marginalised students fall short of, for their disadvantaged caste location puts them up for endless struggles and taunts to get an admission to these prohibited campuses. One needs aesthetic, ideas, language and a refined taste to succeed in Indian academia. Such an ideal situation is only possible in the case of a person who has grown with an excess of resources, for its
After two years of including transgenders in OBC quota, Rajasthan jobs data shows none selected
The data submitted by the State to the HC shows that out of 91 transgender applicants in these two years, the maximum of 39 belonged to the General category, 19 to Scheduled Tribes, 22 to OBCs, seven to Scheduled Castes, and four to EWS communities In an ongoing challenge to the classification of transgender persons as a separate “community” within the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list, data from the Rajasthan Government has now shown that in the two years of accommodating transgender people in the reservation matrix in this manner, none of them had been brought into government services. The State government has submitted data to a Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, which is hearing a challenge to this classification of transgender persons. The government had issued a circular adding “transgender” as an entry in its existing list of OBCs in January 2023, arguing that this satisfied the Supreme Court’s directions in the 2014 NALSA case that they should be considered for reservation. Interpreting 2014 verdict The challenge to this classification, filed by transwoman constable Ganga Kumari, argued that such an interpretation of the Supreme Court’s directions in the 2014 judgment would not be correct, stressing that this classification would never be able to account for transgender people who might not be from an OBC community, instead seeking horizontal reservation for transgenders. The data submitted by the Rajasthan government’s Social Justice and Empowerment Department this week showed that the State Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Board had together advertised nearly 15,000 vacancies from January 2023 onward. Against these, a total of 91 transgender candidates had applied; however, only 22 of them could apply under the category created for transgender people within the vertical quota for OBCs, as only 22 belonged to OBC communities. The data further showed that transgender applicants came from various backgrounds of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Economically Weaker Sections, and the General category communities. Court sought dataset While hearing this case last year, a Bench of Justices Pushpendra Singh Bhati and Anuroop Singh had, in November 2025, asked the Rajasthan government to provide data on how many transgender people, who had been given the benefit of being accommodated in the OBC list, had actually been recruited into government service. In response, the government submitted the above-mentioned dataset. The dataset showed that the maximum number of transgender applicants belonged to the General category, under which 39 candidates had applied. Apart from this, 19 of the transgender applicants belonged to Scheduled Tribes, and seven were from Scheduled Castes, with four candidates falling under EWS category. Advocate Vivek Mathur, leading the representation of the petitioner in the Rajasthan case, told The Hindu, “This data goes to show that it means nothing in the scheme of quotas to include transgender people as an entry in OBC lists, precisely because, as this data showed, trans candidates ended up competing in their respective caste categories. Maybe if these 91 candidates had competed against each other, it would have been likelier for at least some to have been selected.” Ever since the 2014 NALSA judgement, a bone of contention in providing reservation for transgender people has been the direction’s interpretation. The NALSA judgement, in recognising the discrimination faced by the community, directed that they be “treated as” socially and educationally backward for the purpose of reservations. One interpretation of this has been that of Rajasthan, and in another case in Madhya Pradesh, where this was seen as creating an entry within the existing OBC list. And yet, another interpretation of this direction, as argued in courts by activists, is that it calls for treating transgender persons as a separate category on par with socially and educationally backward classes, and not within them, which has been structured as horizontal reservation. In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition seeking a clarification of this point specifically, leaving it open for petitioners to approach courts. But, in separate cases, both the Karnataka High Court (2021) and the Madras High Court (2024) have accepted the arguments for horizontal reservation, enabling a percentage of quotas for transgender people within each existing category of SC, ST, OBC, EWS, and General. Abhinay Lakshman Courtesy : The Hindu Note: This news is originally published on https:/thehindu.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Indelible ink row: Rahul Gandhi accuses EC of ‘gaslighting’ voters – What does it mean?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday weighed in on the controversy surrounding the alleged fading of indelible ink used during Maharashtra’s civic body elections, using a Gen Z term to accuse the Election Commission of undermining public trust. Amid mounting complaints from voters and opposition parties that the ink applied to mark fingers during Thursday’s polls was fading unusually fast, Rahul described the situation as “gaslighting” by the Election Commission and termed “vote chori” an anti-national act. Sharing a media report on X that said “opposition, voters cry foul over fading ink markers”, Gandhi wrote, “Election commission gaslighting citizens is how trust has collapsed in our democracy. Vote Chori is an anti-national act.” The controversy erupted after multiple videos surfaced on social media showing voters claiming that the ink marks on their fingers had faded within hours of voting, raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral process and the possibility of repeat voting. What is gaslighting? Rahul’s use of the term ‘gaslighting’ — commonly associated with Gen Z and millennial discourse — drew attention online. ‘Gaslighting’ refers to a form of manipulation where people are led to doubt their own memory, perception or understanding of reality. It often involves repeatedly denying clear facts, twisting information, or blaming others’ reactions, eventually causing them to question their own judgment. Victims are gradually led to question their actions, memories, understanding and even their sanity. It typically occurs in situations where there is a power imbalance between the individuals involved. Gaslighting often begins with small, seemingly harmless lies but can escalate over time, with the manipulator convincing the victim that they remember events incorrectly, lack sound judgment, or cannot be trusted to assess situations accurately.Examples: “I never said that. You’re imagining things.” “That didn’t happen the way you remember it.” “You’re overreacting — it’s not a big deal.” “You’re too sensitive. Anyone else would be fine with this.” “You always get confused about details.” By invoking the term, Rahul appeared to suggest that voters’ concerns were being dismissed or minimised despite visible evidence, further eroding confidence in democratic institutions. The Election Commission has maintained that it will take corrective steps based on the probe’s findings, even as the opposition continues to press for accountability over the ink controversy. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
TN Congress leaders head to Delhi for meeting with Rahul, Kharge
Chennai: Senior Tamil Nadu Congress leaders, including former and sitting MPs and MLAs, are set to travel to New Delhi on Saturday for a meeting convened by party leader Rahul Gandhi to discuss alliance strategy ahead of the 2026 Assembly election. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will also be present at the meeting planned to discuss the party’s assembly election strategy for TN. The meeting comes at a time when TN Congress functionaries are putting forth different viewpoints on the party’s electoral tie up with DMK. While one section is comfortable with the continuation of the existing alliance arrangement, another section has been pitching for a power sharing arrangement with DMK. The camp that has been batting for a power sharing arrangement has also been nudging for an alliance with actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazagham (TVK), hoping that the actor – politician’s fan base would help them in Kerala, which too goes to polls this year. While most leaders are expected to voice their support for continuation in the DMK alliance during the Saturday meeting, a small group critical of DMK and leaning towards TVK are likely to place their demand for a power-sharing arrangement as a precondition for DMK alliance. DMK leaders have rejected the demand. DMK remains firm it will not accept the Congress power-sharing demand. “There is no compromise at any cost. Except for Manickam Tagore, Rajesh Kumar and Praveen Chakravarty, everyone will favour us (DMK),” said a highly placed DMK source. Nevertheless, Congress leaders say the subject would be brought up during formal alliance talks DMK as the present arrangement of remaining in alliance without sharing power does not help Congress grow in TN. “When something goes wrong then we are unable to criticise DMK as we are allies. This situation does not benefit Congress,” a TN Congress leader said. Setting the tone for meeting, COngress M P Manickam Tagore on Friday said in an X post that Congress was never after `lucrative’ portfolios wherever the party had shared power with allies. Instead, we would only seek ministries that offer scope for serving people better, he said. Senior Congress leaders, however, downplayed the Saturday meeting. Congress general secretary in-charge (organisation) KC Venugopal simply said, “We are doing all state level meetings. Nothing else.” Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai rejected speculation about parallel talks with TVK and said, “In the meeting, we will discuss election preparedness and finalise our plans.” Congress in charge for TN, Girsh Chodankar told TOI that Saturday’s meeting will see a discussion on preparations and exchange of ideas. On the issue of powersharing, he said such matters will be discussed at the alliance committee meeting which is yet to be scheduled. Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot backed the demand from a section of Congress leaders for power sharing. “Every political party wants representation. I think there is nothing wrong in the Congress cadre asking for measures so that they can help the people of Tamil Nadu,” he told reporters in Chennai when asked about the demand for coalition govt. He however appreciated the DMk govt. “Whatever happens in the future, the BJP and NDA will never find a foothold in Tamil Nadu politics. I think the (state) govt did a good job,” he said. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
A day before Rahul’s visit, Patwari meets ex-LS speaker Mahajan over Indore deaths
Bhopal: A day before Lok Sabha LOP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Indore, state Congress president Jitu Patwari created political tremors when he met former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan at her residence on Friday morning. Everyone wondered why the state Congress chief went to meet the BJP’s former MP from the city. After the meeting, Sumitra Mahajan said, “Jitu Patwari works well. He comes to meet me occasionally and he came today also.” Mahajan said that Jitu Patwari asked for her guidance about the present water contamination crisis in the city. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to reach Indore on Saturday and meet families of the deceased victims of the Bhagirathpura water contamination tragedy. The Congress had applied for permission for a public meeting which was refused by the state administration. Jitu Patwari had also asked for a meeting with all corporators’ of the Indore Municipal Corporation which has also been disallowed. Sumitra Mahajan said, “He (Patwari) said that the Congress being in the opposition will protest. But the solution must come rising above party lines. We must work together to find a solution, he told me,” Sumitra Mahajan explained. “I said yes, in a democracy, the opposition must also do its work. We were also in the opposition and protested on various issues,” she recollected. The former Speaker of the Lok Sabha said that she reminded Patwari that there are institutions like the IIT, IIM and GSITS (Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Sciences) where they have technical experts. “I said there are many institutions in Indore where technically qualified people can help. In fact, the govt should be doing this. I said that the Congress can sit together, make a list of recommendations and send it to the govt. I did not give any wrong advise,” Mahajan quipped. Asked if Rahul Gandhi will be coming to meet her during his visit on Saturday, Sumitra Mahajan said, “No. There was no discussion about that. But if anyone wants to come and meet me, I am here.” Patwari told reporters, “We discussed the situation of water supply in Indore. Now the NGT has also said that 70% of water in MP is contaminated and undrinkable. We must rise above party and politics to ensure that a glass of safe drinking water reaches the people of this city. There should be no politics over water. The dialogue with former Lok Sabha speaker was very positive.” Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Meerut Dalit Woman’s Killing: Family Says Police, BJP Helping Prime Accused Claim Minority to Escape Punishment
The family of a Dalit woman who was brutally killed in Meerut, allegedly by a group of upper-caste men, has accused the Uttar Pradesh police and the BJP of shielding the main accused and cutting them off from the outside world. Speaking to reporters outside his village on Wednesday, the eldest brother of the abducted woman said the police were deliberately protecting Paras Som, the prime accused in the case. “In Uttar Pradesh, criminals are killed in encounters, but Paras Som was not even touched. Everyone in the village knows he killed my mother and abducted my sister. Putting him in jail is just an eyewash,” he said. He alleged that a conspiracy was underway to help the accused escape strict punishment. “While being taken to court, he was allowed to speak to the media and claim that he is a minor. This is a planned attempt to save him, even though the whole village knows he is around 25 years old,” the brother said. The family also alleged that heavy police presence around their house was not meant for protection but to isolate them. “Paramilitary forces have been deployed outside our home. All entry points to the village have been blocked and six CCTV cameras have been installed around our house. At first we thought it was for our safety, but now it feels like they want to stop us from talking to anyone,” he said. According to the family, the incident took place on the morning of January 8 when Paras Som and his associates attacked the woman with axes as she was going to her fields with her daughter. The woman was killed on the spot and her daughter was abducted. Another brother of the abducted woman said eyewitnesses had named four people in the crime. “Paras Som, his friend Sunil Som and two others were involved. The police arrested Paras and Sunil but have done nothing to catch the other two accused. Now Paras is playing the age card on the advice of politicians,” he alleged. The police arrested Paras Som from Haridwar and rescued the woman on the night of January 10. After her statement was recorded before a magistrate, she was sent back home. While being produced in court, Paras Som told reporters, “I am a minor and I have documents to prove it. My Aadhaar card and school certificate will show this.” Meerut jail superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma said the accused had claimed to be a minor. “He has said he should be sent to a child remand home. We have asked him to present these claims before the court,” he said. Circle Officer Ashutosh Kumar said security forces were deployed only to maintain law and order. “The main accused has not submitted any proof of being a minor so far,” he said. The case has triggered political reactions across the state. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party was closely monitoring the situation. “We are with the victim’s family at every step,” he said. Yadav had earlier sent Rs three lakh as financial assistance to the family. The killing sparked protests by Dalit groups and opposition parties, with demands for the immediate arrest of all accused and action against their properties. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati called the incident “extremely heartbreaking and shameful” and urged the government to take crimes against women seriously. The incident has also led to clashes between opposition leaders and the administration after several political delegations were stopped from visiting the victim’s village, even as BJP leaders were allowed access. Courtesy : TOP Note: This news is originally published on https:/theobserverpost.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
‘What’s in a name?’: Rohith Vemula and the enduring caste discrimination in Indian universities
What makes caste discrimination in higher education particularly insidious is that it’s rarely spectacular. Dalit students aren’t always abused openly; more often, they’re quietly diminished. If Rohith Vemula were alive in 2026, he would be around thirty-six years old. One can imagine him as a teacher, a public intellectual, perhaps a scientist or a writer, someone still questioning power, still dreaming, and still believing that knowledge could be a tool for justice. It was ten years ago, on January 17, 2016 that Rohith Vemula was institutionally murdered. His death exposed something far more unsettling: that universities, institutions often celebrated as spaces of reason and modernity, are deeply structured by caste. It underlined that rather than merely reflecting social inequalities beyond their boundaries, universities actively perpetuate them within their classrooms, hostels, evaluation systems, and daily academic activities. Rohith’s death forced into public consciousness what Dalit students had long experienced in silence: that institutions can kill without ever touching the body. When academia mirrors social hierarchies Rohith Vemula’s experience at the University of Hyderabad made visible how institutional failure operates in caste terms. He questioned authority, challenged Brahmanical dominance, and insisted that equality was a right, not a favor. The response was swift and disciplinary: suspension, social boycott, withdrawal of material support, and administrative indifference. The university did not engage with his ideas; it sought to silence his presence. His fellowship was stopped, his access to basic resources denied, and his social world deliberately narrowed. The institution did not pull the trigger, but it created the conditions in which life became unbearable. Rohith’s death thus raised a question that still haunts Indian higher education: what happens when institutions meant to nurture minds instead systematically break them? What makes caste discrimination in higher education particularly insidious is that it is rarely spectacular. Dalit students are not always abused openly; more often, they are quietly diminished. Their ideas are ignored in seminars until echoed by Savarna peers. Their academic labor goes unrecognised, while others receive praise for similar work. They are marked lower in vivas and interviews without explanation and told they lack “clarity,” “rigor,” or “confidence.” Even discrimination has learned to speak the language of civility. The interview and viva systems, far from being neutral instruments of assessment, are structured through deeply embedded biases. They operate on unspoken assumptions about how intelligence should sound, appear, and be performed. Fluency in dominant language registers, familiarity with elite academic culture and specific styles of self-presentation are regarded as indicators of merit, while alternative intellectual expressions are marginalised. In this way, interviews do not merely evaluate candidates; they actively regulate who is deemed academically legitimate, reproducing exclusion through procedure rather than through openly articulated discrimination. Marginalised students, particularly first-generation learners, enter these spaces already marked as out of place. Failure is then framed as individual weakness, never as institutional bias. The myth of merit and the reality of privilege Merit in higher education is commonly framed as a neutral, objective, and caste-free measure of individual ability. This assumption, however, obscures the social conditions under which merit is produced, recognised, and rewarded. Far from being an autonomous attribute, merit is a socially mediated construct that reflects the unequal distribution of social and cultural capital structured by caste hierarchies. According to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, intergenerational accumulation of cultural capital, linguistic competence, academic disposition, confidence, and familiarity with institutional norms aligns with dominant caste practices. In the Indian context, this capital is explicitly caste-structured: Savarna students enter educational institutions already equipped with embodied dispositions that institutions mistake for intelligence and competence. Dalit students, often first-generation learners, encounter the university as a culturally alien space where evaluative norms are implicit yet rigid, producing systematic misrecognition rather than neutral assessment. Meritocratic evaluations also erase the role of social capital, including access to mentorship, academic networks, and informal guidance. These resources significantly shape academic performance and institutional navigation but remain invisible within formal assessment frameworks. By ignoring such structural advantages, merit discourse converts inherited privilege into individual achievement and structural exclusion into personal failure. Merit thus functions ideologically by naturalising inequality and moralising hierarchy. Success appears deserved, while exclusion is attributed to lack of effort or ability, absolving institutions of responsibility and delegitimising claims for structural redress. In this sense, merit operates as a technology through which caste privilege reproduces itself under the guise of fairness and modernity. This sustained misrecognition constitutes a form of institutional violence. When exclusion is repeatedly framed as individual inadequacy, humiliation becomes normalised and structural discrimination rendered invisible. Merit, in this formulation, is not the absence of caste but one of its most effective contemporary languages, reproducing hierarchy while disavowing it. From embodiment to institutional murder Institutional murder is not an isolated act of individual cruelty; it is the terminal effect of a prolonged regime of humiliation embedded within institutional life. This regime operates through the everyday normalisation of Brahmanical embodiment and the systematic disembodiment of Dalit students in higher education. Brahmanical embodiment structures the university as a space where savarna aesthetics, taste, comportment, and affect are treated as neutral standards of merit and professionalism. These embodied norms confer automatic legitimacy on Savarna bodies while rendering Dalit bodies culturally and epistemically misaligned with the institution. As a result, Dalit students encounter the university not as a space of recognition but as a site of constant correction, surveillance, and disciplining. This process produces institutional humiliation. Humiliation here is not episodic or interpersonal; it is cumulative and structural. It is enacted through repeated questioning of competence, the delegitimisation of lived experience as knowledge, aesthetic policing of language, dress, and emotion, and the persistent marking of Dalit students as “quota,” “beneficiaries,” or disruptions to academic order. Each instance may appear minor or deniable, but together they constitute a continuous assault on dignity. Institutional humiliation functions through disembodiment. Dalit students are compelled to suppress their histories, affects, and cultural presence to survive academically. Their bodies are present but unrecognised; their voices are audible but unauthoritative. This forced erasure generates
Harihar MLA booked for abusing Dalit farmer with casteist slurs
In his complaint, the farmer sought legal action against the MLA, his son and his PA for verbally abusing and threatening him. DAVANAGERE: The Davanagere police have registered an FIR against Harihar MLA BP Harish on charges of abusing a Dalit farmer with casteist slurs. Based on a complaint by Kantaraj of Kadajji village in Davangere taluk, the police booked the MLA under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Harish had gone to the village on January 12 to check on reports of illegal silt removal from a lake for use in agriculture. In the complaint, Kantaraj claimed that the MLA’s car blocked his tractor when he was transporting silt from the lake. “I got down from the tractor and went to the car and saw MLA Harish in it. When I asked why you blocked my tractor, the MLA, his son and his PA got down from the car and asked me on what basis I was lifting the silt. They also reprimanded me rudely,” the complainant said. When Kantaraj made repeated requests to let go, they started to abuse him. The MLA too kept shouting at him, the complaint stated. “Then some people from our village came and even though the MLA, his son and his PA joined them and told them not to lift the soil, they reprimanded me again and abused my caste. Following this, the people near the lake came and formed a group. Then other villagers and elders pacified everyone and sent them away,” Kantaraj said. In his complaint, the farmer sought legal action against the MLA, his son and his PA for verbally abusing and threatening him. A case has been registered against the trio under sections 352 351 (2), 126 (2) of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1986. Recently, a case was registered against Harish on charges of insulting and abusing Davangere SP Uma Prashanth. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Dalit Class 9 Student Found Dead on Railway Track in Saharanpur, Police Probe Alleged Honour Killing
An alleged honour killing of a Dalit teenager has come to light in the Deoband police station area of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, after the body of a Class 9 student was found on a railway track. Police said they received information on Thursday about a sack lying on the railway track. A police team rushed to the spot, took the body into custody and sent it for post mortem. Locals at the site later identified the deceased as Mayank, a 14-year-old resident of Alipura or Meghrajpur village. Superintendent of Police Rural Sagar Jain said the boy had been missing since January 12. “The deceased has been identified as Mayank, son of Roopchand, a resident of Alipura village under Deoband police station. A case has been registered based on the complaint given by the family, and the investigation is underway from all angles,” he said. According to the family, Mayank received a phone call from someone in the village on the afternoon of January 12 and was asked to come out immediately. His parents did not stop him as they believed the caller was known to them. When he did not return home, the family searched for him but found no trace until his body was discovered on the railway track. The father has alleged that Mayank was first assaulted and then stabbed to death. He claimed that the accused put the body in a sack and dumped it on the railway track to make the murder look like a train accident or suicide. The plan failed after the loco pilot spotted the sack in time and stopped the train, alerting the police. During the inquiry, Roopchand told police that his son was friends with a minor girl from the village and alleged that her family members were opposed to the relationship. He has named five people, including the girl’s parents, as accused in the case. “The family has accused five people of murdering the boy. We are examining CCTV footage and other technical evidence. Several suspects have been detained and are being questioned,” SP Jain said, adding that strict action will be taken against those found guilty. Police also said that the girl belonged to the same community as Mayank, but opposition from her family over the friendship may have led to the crime. However, officials stressed that the exact motive will be clear only after the post mortem report and completion of the investigation. Courtesy : TOP Note: This news is originally published on https:/theobserverpost.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights