Press Trust of India
Friday, November 10, 2006
New Delhi, November 10: The CPM, which has sought
a CBI probe into the recent killing of four
Dalits in Maharashtra, today said untouchability
and other degrading practices were still rampant
and such incidents reflected the plight of these
downtrodden sections.
A Dalit girl, who passed Class 12 and was preparing
to join the army, was raped, mutilated and murdered
along with her mother and two family members.
"The shocking part of the entire episode
is how the police callously sought to cover
up this terrible crime", he said and demanded
stringent action against the guilty and the
policemen responsible for cover-up.
Yechury said while such incidents were condemned,
the ‘hard social realities’
facing Dalits were ignored. In rural areas,
land is still the central issue on which they
were oppressed and exploited, with a bulk of
them being landless. Untouchability and other
degrading practices are still widespread, he
said.
