Sanitation workers hold protest over ‘caste based-abuse’

In a case related to caste-based abuse and assault on a safai karamchari, a protest was held outside the Tibba police station, demanding arrest of suspects.

The complainant, Avinash Kumar, who works as a safai sewak in the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, and in-charge of Ward 13, had registered a case against Vicky Rana and Amit of the Tibba road area on Wednesday.

People belonging to the Dalit community staged a sit-in on Thursday due to inaction in the case. The protest was called off after the police assured them of taking action against the suspects. The protesters had warned the police that if they failed to arrest the suspects soon, they would again hold a protest outside the police station.

Avinash said in his complaint that on Wednesday when his employees Kundan Kumar and Govind went to collect garbage in Hira Vihar Colony (Subhash Nagar) of Ward 13, Vicky Rana, and his friend Amit stopped their vehicle. Rana also snatched keys of the vehicle and abused them. When he reached the spot, the duo used casteist remarks against him as well. They asked the sanitation employees that they should collect garbage from the area on time, otherwise, they would not let them enter the lane.

He said later, the suspects also slapped him and his employees and obstructed them from performing their duty.