Two arrested in Dalit woman assault case

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 14

Two persons have been arrested by the Bhoalth police after elderly Dalit woman Shindo and Satpal Singh, residents of Surkhan village, were attacked and casteist remarks were made against them on February 11.

A case under Sections 323, 341, 149 and 506 of the IPC was lodged at the Bholath police station on that day and an update in Section 3(4) was made in the case under the SC/ST Act, following which the two suspects, numberdar Jaswant Singh and Amrik Singh, had been arrested by the Bholath police.

Pendu Mazdoor Union activist Kashmir Singh Ghugshore said with the arrest of the village residents, the protest to be held outside the Bholath police station had been postponed. Union activists had also demanded that other persons named in the case also be arrested. The duo had been remanded in 14- day police custody.

Meanwhile, a public apology by members of the panchayat to Dalit resident Gurpal, a PMU activist, and Satpal of the Surkhan village has brought the complaint of Gurpal to a close. While Gurpal had alleged he was illegally detained by the police (the SHO of the Bholath police station), they were called by the Bholath DSP at the police station on February 11 after which the panchayat had tendered a public apology to the activists. Activists of the Pendu Mazdoor Union said panchayat members said a meeting of the panchayat would be called within a week in which a resolution would be passed to award requisite plots to homeless labourers and farmers.

Casteist remarks were made against Shindo and she was beaten up by village residents on February 11 after she had accompanied activists Gurpal and Satpal to get back keys of their room which had allegedly been vandalised on February 9.

Activist Kashmir Singh Ghugshore said, “While Shindo and Satpal were accompanying Gurpal and Satpal on February 11, when she demanded the keys, members of the panchayat slapped her and took her stick also. After the police reached the spot, two of her attackers were arrested but we also demand action against the remaining culprits named in the FIR.”

While Gurpal’s wife Harjit Kaur had contested as the village sarpanch, they had alleged that the village sarpanch, along with other persons, kept Gurpal, along with his father and another resident Satpal Singh, in police custody illegally. The activists alleged Gurpal and his wife were beaten in the police custody and their belongings kept in his shanty were also burnt and the Dalit family’s buffalo taken away. Later, his shelter was locked on February 9, they had said.