Support pours in for Kaza women protesters

Tribune News Service

Mandi, July 17

Supporting women protesters at Kaza in tribal district Lahaul Spiti, Yuva Mandal, Mahila Mandal and Beopar Mandal of Spiti valley have urged Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to withdraw cases against women protesters registered at Kaza police station.

Apart from this, 1,207 families of Spiti valley through a signature campaign have also urged the Chief Minister to take back the cases against the protesters. On June 9, around 250 women had led a protest march at Kaza to force the Agriculture Minister and Lahaul Spiti MLA Ram Lal Markanda to follow locally imposed lockdown and return. Finally, the minister was forced to move back from Kaza. The lockdown was imposed by residents of Spiti valley to check Covid-19 outbreak in the region.

The protest had irked the minister. The police later registered cases against women protesters at Kaza police station and started an investigation into the case on the base of a video clip, which went viral on social media.

The women protesters have termed the police action against them as politically motivated. They said that the police have implicated them in false cases, which should be withdrawn. On July 13, a delegation of women protesters met the Chief Minister in Shimla and apprised him about the actual situation. The women protesters said that they were struggling to save Spiti valley from Covid-19 outbreak because the region lacked adequate health facilities to deal with the Covid pandemic.

Sonam Dolma, president, Mahila Mandal Kaza; Kesang, president, Yuval Mandal and Norbu Gyalsan, president, Beopar Mandal, Kaza, said, “We have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister and Governor through ADM Kaza and urged them to ask police to withdraw cases registered against the women protesters in the tribal district of Lahaul Spiti.”