Untouchability, Atrocities And Ambedkar : The Continuing Struggle Of Indian Dalits For An Atrocity-Free-Society.
V. Prasanna Kumar Prof. I. Rambrahmam
The ‘Right to Life’ is basic, divine and universal to all mankind. Yet, for the 24 million Untouchable Dalits of India, it is ‘a right on trial’ and ‘a guarantee that is observed more in breach than in faith’.
The infinity of atrocities on Dalits (1) in independent India would speak volumes on how the constitutionally guaranteed civic rights are still denied to these once social outcastes. In juxtaposition to this, the formidable armory (2) of anti atrocity acts and statutes like article 17 of the constitution, Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), the Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1955 and the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 appears to have remained as “cobras without stings” and would speak of the legislative and executive inertia. Judiciary in India is considered progressive by far and by large. But the same progressive activism and initiative is lacking in judiciary when it confronts the issues of Dalit. Ex:- Relegation of SCs from first to seventh point in recruitment Roster, no conviction to the offenders of SC/ST atrocities and saying ‘No’ to the suggestion of the President of India for reservation in judiciary too. Slowly but steadily it appears even the judiciary is sliding into this volley of hallow promises.
An attempt is made here to examine how even the judicial and quasi judicial systems are drifting away from being ‘benevolent adjudicator’ to a passive spectator’. For this purpose, the reports of three Judicial Enquiry Commissions (JEC): one, Padirikuppam (1983), two, Karamchedu (1985) and three, Tsundur (1991); all in Andhra Pradesh are considered here as these are all established cases of most dreadful attacks on Dalits civic right to life.
Padirikuppam: Acquitting the ruling classes:
Acquitting the ruling classes has come to stay as fait accompli of many JECs concerning atrocities on Dalits. And Padirikuppam is no exception.
On 5th January 1983, minutes after the polling to the state assembly elections was over, the entire Dalit Wada was attacked by a mob of caste Hindus. Some 85 Dalit houses were burnt into ashes by caste Hindus in which four Dalits were immolated and five hundred persons were rendered shelter less. Buckling under the pressures of Ambedkarite Organisations , a Commission of enquiry was constituted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) on 17th January,1983 (with Sri Y.Venkateswara Rao, retired High Court Judge as its Chairman). The Chief accusation of Dalits was that 500 Telugu Desam Party workers headed by the sons, nephews and other close relatives of E.V.Gopala Raju, then Telugu Desam candidate for Nagiri assembly segment, raided the Dalitwada immediately after the polling was over and set fire to Dalits houses suspecting the support of Dalits to their rival Congress (I) candidate. As usual, Gopala Raju and his men not only denied any role for them in the riot instead dubbed the whole episode as the handiwork of Dalits themselves with the sinister motive of securing new houses besides attractive sums of ex-gratia.
This being the crux of the case, the Commission after enquiry submitted a report which: (1) confirmed the raid and arson on Dalitwada on 5.1.1983 (2) but not by Gopala Raju and his relatives as alleged by Dalits, (3) nevertheless, by SOME MEN (emphasis not of the commission but by the author) whose identity the commission failed to establish. The foregoing analyses would spot the commission conspicuous of two reasons; 1) the Commission failed in its basic task of identifying the persons responsible for the arson, but 2) notwithstanding this, undertook the extraordinary burden of acquitting Gopala Raju and Telugu Desam Party which is totally unwarranted and unreferred to.
Absolving the corroborators:
From the beginning, the Dalits were suspicious of the role of the local S.I. Naganna. The accused collusion of SI with Gopal Raju of Telugu Desam has lead to his immediate transfer from Padirikuppam as a measure of palliviating Dalit anger. The Commission also did not hide its displeasure over the role of Naganna, then local Sub Inspector of Police (SI). “ It is unfortunate that Inspector Naganna should have given room for comment about the genuineness of the endorsement made by him in Exhibit A-13(3). This kind of imperfect investigation seems to justify the contention that the time entered in the FIR should not be taken for granted and the that the report was prepared only the next morning and that after due deliberation” (4). The judge annoyingly observed further that “the statements which Inspector Naganna admittedly recorded from ten witnesses should have been made over to his successor on 8th January, 1983 when he was relieved of his office. They were made available only long afterwards and that too after some correspondence”. Yet the Commission failed to recommend any punishment on the SI.
Denigration of Dalit witness :
A close examination of the commission’s proceedings reveal that it had two fold strategy . While at the bottom, the culprits and corroborators are to be absolved, the commission had conveniently chosen to underplay the veracity of witness by Dalits. A1 to A8 are witnesses from Dalits. The commission declared the witness of A2 as a “tissue of lies” A3 as ‘trash’ A4 as ‘partisan’ and A6 as ‘false’ on the pretext that they belong to the same political party of accuser. The Commission choose to dismiss the witness statement of A4 on the ground that (1) his presence on the spot was doubtful and (2) he belongs to Samithi President Narayanaswamy’s (congress I) group. In the commission’s eyes, A5 “tried to corroborate the same evidence of A3 by claiming to be an eye witness but it is dangerous to rely upon his evidence as he has absolutely no respect for truth”. The Commission had liberally concluded the statement of another witness Smt.B.Chengamma,A6, as false, just because she was continuing her life as cooli even after her brother became Samithi President. “It is highly doubtful that she would take up work as cooli on daily wages and that too, in a different village when she is no other than Samithi President Narayanaswamy’s own sister”(5).
Thus, out of a total of eight witness is deposed on behalf of the Dalit Victims, the judge mastered his intelligence to show as many as six are false and unreliable. At no stage, the judge exhibited faith in what the Dalit victims were anguishing. At the same time it appears that no opportunity was left unveiled throughout to acquit of Gopala Raju and his relatives. This was evident from his concluding observation: “It is, therefore, quite possible that none of the persons named in Ex. A-13 including the sons and nephews of E.V.Gopala Raju or his close relatives were amongst the group of persons that raided China Harijanawada and set fire to the houses there on 5th January 1983 and that only their henchmen carried out this nefarious task” (6).
While the Govt. asked the commission under ref; 3.II to determine the identity of the persons responsible for the raid, it did the other way exactly by identifying those who are not responsible for the raid. Is it not interesting? It just didn’t stop there. The Commission did perform another unassigned and unreferred task with devotion and ease by absolving Telugu Desam Party also from any involvement in this affair.
“The arson and other acts of violence against the residents of China Harijanwada on 5th January 1983 cannot be regarded as acts of the party” (7) How could the judge arrive at this conclusion? Does the judge have a list of those ‘SOME MEN’ responsible for the arson? If not, how can he verify and conclude that they are not Telugu Desam men? If yes, had their political leanings been verified and established? Inversely, the same persons should have been declared as responsible for the arson. But without all this how does the commission expect us to believe that they are SOME MEN, belonging to Gopala Raju who is contesting for the assembly as TDP candidate but not TDP men? . Thus the whole process of enquiry was evidentially loaded against the Dalit victims with an added concern for the accused (ruling classes).
TSUNDUR- The perfect collusion:
Tsundur is a richly irrigated village 7kms.away from Tenali, Divisional Revenue Headquarters of Guntur dt. in A.P.
Originally there was a minor scuffle in the Cinema Hall of Tsundur Village one night. The reported reason was that the foot of one untouchable youth, (Conscious or unconscious), had touched the rear of an upper caste woman sitting in the front row. Enough, clouds thundered in a minute over the boy. Following the next day, there was a massive showdown and aborted clash on 12-7-1991 between the upper castes and untouchables.
After the aborted clash between the Dalits and upper castes on 12.7.91, the villagers have imposed a social boycott on Dalits . Both revenue and police officials for 23 days ignored this a social boycott which is a heinous offence. The result was 5 Dalits were butchered and pieces of flush were thrown into the flowing drains on the early hours of 6-8-1991, by the upper caste alliance.
Failure of Revenue and Police: Inability or Intended collusion:
According to Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Tenali, he received a group of Dalits at his residence who survived the butchery by fleeing across the paddy fields around 2330 and 2400 hours of 6.8.91. They narrated clearly to the RDO that Dalits of Tsundur were attacked by truck loads of Reddys and Telagas (8) armed with deadly weapons in the paddy fields. They killed as many Dalits as could be nabbed, butchered the bodies into pieces, packed them into gunny bags and threw them in to drains and canals. (9) Was this tear shedding revelation of the survived victims not sufficient for the Divisional Magistrate to order for immediate search operations on war foot informing the same at once to District Magistrate and Collector. It appears the answer was a capital NO as the RDO choose only to telephone his subordinate officers the Mandal Revenue Officer and C.I. stationed at Tsundur and Deputy Superintendent of Police at Tenali who were all sitting tight over the tragedy denying all such talk as just canard or rumor. But these ground level revenue and Police officials knows that the men of upper castes as well as Dalits have deserted the village for more than 18 hours by then. The Police did find some blood stained clothes on the morning hours of 6.8.91 in the houses of upper castes. The survived Dalits narrated the butchery to RDO but still for the Police and Revenue Departments every thing was ‘under control’ (10).
Here is yet another classic proof of police connivance and lethargy. Same day (6.8.91) at 21.25 hrs. a couple of Dalits with severe bleeding injuries got themselves admitted into Government Hospital, Tenali. Their statements describing the whole butchery were recorded around 22.15hrs. by one Head Constable of Tenali rural PS. Why did this constable not informed this either to his senior officer or the DSP who resides just a few yards from the hospital and was it not a grave break down of Law and order ? The DSP reportedly came to know about it only on the next morning i.e. 7.8.91 around 07.00hrs. when he was on the way to join the RDO to visit Tsundur together. Then he drove back to Government Hospital, spoke to the victims and then proceeded to Tsundur along with RDO but he too doesn’t seem to feel the gravity of the crime as he also remained silent without informing either SP or District Collector. The blood stricken tragic revelation of those two Dalit survivors in the Hospital seem to be inadequate to move the connived heart of the DSP to shed out his corroboration and plunge into action.
Can ever be more willful negligence?
Now, let us examine the sensitivity and preparedness of the District administration on matters concerning Dalits right to life.
At about 11.00hrs. on 7.7.91, the Collector of Guntur District who was in a meeting received the first message from RDO, Tenali that there was a rumor of large scale massacre of Dalits, dead bodies thrown into drains and search parties were in action. The collector again received another message from RDO, Tenali camping at Tsundur around 3 p.m. that 2 dead bodies were found in paddy fields. Then Collector asked the RDO to arrange for the identification of the dead bodies and report back. The Collector’s office simultaneously made frantic attempts between 15.00hrs. to 16.30hrs. with the Additional Superintendent of Police to get confirmation but the poor Addl. S.P. was completely in darkness. Let us see his affidavit submitted to the Commission.(11)
At 16.00hrs. of 7.8.91, on receiving message from the collector he contacted the Special Branch (SB) Control Room at Guntur and also Tsundur police station through the police wireless control room Guntur. He was informed by the Head Constable incharge of S.B. Control Room that there was no report of such incident at Tsundur (even after 38hrs. from the committal of butchery ). Then he contacted the Police Constable (PC) who was on sentry duty at Tsundur police station. The PC also replied that no incident of violence was reported at the police station. Perplexed Additional S.P. then instructed the sentry P.C. Tsundur to put immediately the camping Dy.S.P. Tenali into line. Complying to this whip only, at about 16.35 hrs. the cool-go Dy.S.P. Tenali informed that two dead bodies of Dalits were found in the fields situated outside Tsundur village and it was suspected that many more Dalits were murdered by the upper caste people. Had the Additional S.P. not enquired, no one knows as to howmany days the (connived) DSP would have silently sat over the holocaust. When tried to inform the same on telephone to the District Collector, the Addl.SP was curtly told that the Collector had already left for Tsundur i.e. between 16.35 and 16.45hrs. of 7.8.91.
Sufficient evidence is flown into the foregone paragraphs to demonstrate that at no stage between 23.00 hrs. of 6.8.91(when the first news received by them) and 16.35p.m. of 7.8.91, for almost 18 hours the local DSP is seen to have made hardly any attempt to inform his own office or his superiors of this tragic incident. Contrarily, his revenue counterpart, i.e., RDO had made 2 successful and 1 unsuccessful call to the Collector between 06.00hrs. and 16.30hrs. of 7.8.91. The available evidence is adequate enough to establish the malafides of the DSP. Thus the first man to be charged with dereliction of duty is the DSP, Tenali who was able to suppress the information made known to the District Collector and Superintendent of Police for nearly 18 hours. Unfortunately or ironically he too was a Dalit .
The following conclusions would emerge from the above discussion.
1. All the available evidence upholds that the Dy.S.P. Tenali sat over the tragedy for nearly 18 hours informing neither his own office nor his superiors, SP and Collector.
2.The top district police chief seem to have been kept in complete darkness and isolation. From the local police station at Tsundur to the District Police Control Room at Guntur, wireless communications systems were not put to use for reasons best known to them only.
3.The District Collector and Executive Magistrate according to the available evidence seem to have been rather slow in reacting to such a sensitive issue with all the concern necessary. This is evident from his failure to provide foresighted leadership between 11.00hrs. and 16.30 hrs. of 7.9.91.
4. Coordination which is the hallmark of any administration is conspicuous by its absence between the Revenue and Police Chiefs either at the District level or at the division level. The intra-departmental coordination in Police Department was surprisingly nil. It appears unbelievable that the local police station of Tsundur, just a two hundred yards away from the massacre sight was not even aware of the tragedy till 16.30hrs. of 7.8.91 i.e. for nearly 34 hours after the ghastly murders. The District Control Room was equally in darkness for nearly 34 hrs. More surprising is the rushing of the District Collector to the spot without the Additional S.P. from whom he sought details.
Thus inability and inapt handling of the then prevailing social tensions on time by revenue officials coupled with the brazen collusion of Police Department at division level, led to the wholesale massacre of Dalits.
Let us ponder, what was the JUSTICE delivered to the Dalits of Tsundur by the constitution of Dr.Ambedkar. Having discussed the judiciary and also executive responses to the two major atrocities let us examine yet another blow to the very survival of Dalit community in Karamchedu (1985) which occurred in between Padirikuppam (1983) and Tsundur (1991).
KARAMCHEDU: The dichotomy of Dominance Vs. Assertion
Financial self sufficiency, education and assertion of self respect by the conscious Dalits of Karamchedu was viewed as a formidable challenge to the dominance of affluent upper castes for quite a long time preceding the carnage. And this challenge seems to have been aptly met with by the dominant Kamma caste at an opportune time. (12). Though five Dalits were butchered across Paddy fields and the entire 400 Dalit families have got permanently debased and deserted the village to Chirala, a nearby Municipal town: all this was the consequence of one Dalit women’s human instinct to use the water from the village tank. Neither the police nor the judicial Enquiry Commission (JEC) could make any break-through till date in bringing the culprits to the book. However, in contrast to the earlier JECs discussed above, this Commission on Karamchedu did not have any scope to exhibit partisan attitude in the wake of its boycott by Dalits themselves.
"Part of the blame for this development should go to Dalit Mahasabha which spearheaded the agitation for justice and rehabilitation of victims as it was the principle force that dictated the boycott” (13) remarked justice(Rd) Desai of the Karamchedu Enquiry commission. Thus the commission failed to make any progress with regard to 1 and 2 of the terms referred, either causes for the carnage or persons responsible for it. Thus the Commission report is inconclusive if not incomplete.
Nevertheless, some of the recommendations of Justice Desai are indeed innovative and pioneering (14) like: (1) creation of special courts to try cases of atrocities (2) separate legislation on SC/STs similar to that of TADA Act 1985 with cursory provisions like atrocity cess as exist in Bombay Police Act 1951 and (3) appropriate care must be taken to see that there shall always be one SC/ST Officer at least among the top 4 positions in a District viz District Collector, District Judge, Superintendent of Police, Joint Collector. Thus Justice Desai happens to be the forerunner of special courts and SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.
JECS: Exploit or Boycott:
There can be no disagreement with the Dalit Leaders legalistic contention that these commissions by their very social nature and history cannot be expected to render any justice. But the same cannot hold good on social and political fronts. Any social movement, particularly for the cause of social equity and justice, cannot afford to miss any smallest opportunity or forum to expose clearly the existing social inequities, perpetuation of atrocities, usurpation of Dalits civic rights by dominant classes directly as well in collusion with the State. It was not out of faith that patriotic nationalists like Bhagat Singh, Dange, Tilak, Pant, Nehru, Gandhi,Subhash C.Bose etc., deposed before British courts but only to expose the oppressor violently to the entire democratic world and thereby charge up the public with the cause. Therefore, it would be in the interests of the Dalit Community and in the interests of exposing unitedly the forces inimical to Dalit advancement, that the Dalit leaders should reconsider their stand Vis-à-vis the Judicial Enquiry Commissions. The observation made by Justice Gangadhara Rao of Tsundur Enquiry Commission is relevant to be recalled here: “I have to state that I am handicapped by the fact that the Dalits have not chosen to cooperate with the Commission and thereby I have lost the benefit of their version of events. I am not able to determine and identify the persons responsible for the murder of Dalits on 5th August 1991, because the Dalit victims who are the best persons to give evidence, direct and circumstantial, have chosen to boycott the commission and did not adduce any evidence before the Commission”.(15)
Dawning Despair-Need for Consensus:
The State in India had induced Dalits so averse and indifferent to some of its vital institutions like the Police and Judiciary. The first ever formal complaint on Tsundur tragedy by the Dalit victims was made on 24.8.91 i.e. after 18 days. Another one on 1.9.91 which means after 24 days. This apathy of one fourths of its populace has surfaced to the forefront
of the national agenda to which the state has to address immediately. Any more delay/ neglect of State in this regard is bound to commission the centrifugal forces into operation thereby rendering cracks in the state operatus more visible, irreparable and ultimately explosive as forecasted already by Dr.Ambedkar as under: (16)
“On January 26,1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality…… we must remember this contradiction at the earliest movement or else though who suffer from inequality will blowup the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up”.
Towards the establishment of an Atrocity-Free society-some
thoughts
Given the lethargy of the legislature, complacency of executive, collusion of police and disinclination of judiciary (as detailed above) in the protection of Dalits civic rights the following suggestions with regard to prevention of atrocities demand immediate consideration of Central and State governments.
1. The constitution, Peoples Representation Act 1956 shall be amended forthwith incorporating the award of following punishments on the inflictors of atrocities on Dalits. These are: (a) disenfranchisement and (b) debarring from contesting of elections (municipal to national level) for atleast 7 years.
2. The recent POTA act brought out to combat terrorism, can be suitably modified to include atrocities against SC/ST also.
3. Similarly, the proposal to impose an “Atrocity Cess” on all those accused in riots on Dalits needs serious and immediate consideration.
4. Serious thought may be given for confiscation of the properties of those who were convicted for perpetuation of atrocities against Dalits
5. Cr.PC.437 and 439 should be amended providing for nonbailability to those persons accused of involvement in atrocities against SC/STs.
6. The Cr.PC. must be amended facilitating declaration of any atrocity against Dalits as a capital offense and minimum imprisonment period must be raised to 5 years in proven cases of atrocities against SC/STs.
7. The words WILLFUL NEGLECT in Section V of the latest SC , ST Prevent of Atrocities Act, 1989 need to be amended providing for deletion of the word “willful” before ‘neglect’ and should be linked to Article 311., thereby empowering the Chief Executives to apply Atricle 311 on those employees who found to be negligent, whether willful or otherwise in protecting the constitutional rights of Dalits.
8. Also this is high time to invoke Article 311 on those officers having
negligent record in combating atrocities on weaker sections .
9. The free legal aid facility presently available needs to be strengthened by incorporating provision for payment of compensatory or subsistence allowance at court in connection with atrocity cases/enquiries.
10. The Government of India should also take up a thorough review of all anti - atrocity acts with a view to plug in the loopholes in the light of our long experience and suggestions stated above.
CONCLUSION:
Ambedkar warned way back in 1937 that “the Swaraj wherein no fundamental rights are guaranteed for the depressed classes would not be a swaraj for us. It would indeed be a new slavery”.(17) This was vindicated in Karamchedu, Padirikuppam and Tsundur. This foresightedness of Ambedkar is still a relevant torch bearer for us even after 56 years of independent India’s long and tardy journey towards social justice and basic human rights.
FOOT NOTES
Like Keelavenmani, Karamchedu, Kanchikacharla, Belchi, Begusarai, Padirikuppam, Tsundur, Gaya, Jehanabad, Tirunalveli, Tanjor etc. are some will remembered notorious atrocities on Indian Dalits.
The Constitution of India, , provided in Article 15 that no citizen would be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment, use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of general public. Article 17 of the Constitution declared that “untouchability” was abolished and its practice in
any form was forbidden. It was further provided that the enforcement of any disability arising out of “untouchability” would be an offence punishable in accordance with law. For banishing the practices of economic exploitation of vulnerable sections of society a provision was included in Article 23 prohibiting traffic in human beings and “beggar” and similar other forms of forced labour and it was declared that contravention of this provision would be an offence punishable in accordance with law.
In order to give effect to these Constitutional provisions the following enactments have been made:
i) The Untouchability (Offences Act, 1955, later amended and retitled as the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955
ii) The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
iii) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act,1976
There are two important legislations related to Article 17, viz., The protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (PCRA), and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989(PAA). Initially the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955, had been enacted to abolish the practice of untouchability and social disabilities arising out of it against members of the Scheduled Castes. It was amended in 1977 and is now known as the protection of Civil rights Act, 1955. Under this cognizable and non-compoundable and stricter punishment was provided for the offenders. To check the commission of atrocities on SC and ST, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, came into force on 31-11990. The Act, inter alia, specifies six types of offences as atrocities, provides for imposition of stricter penalties for the guilty and setting up of Special Courts for speedy trial of such cases. The crimes under the PCRA were brought under the purview of the PAA as the latter provides for stricter punishment to the offenders.
Ex.A 13 is the serial order no.given to the FIR in the affidavits filed before the Enquiry Commission.
Report of the commission of Enquiry on “Padirikuppam Harijanwada Fire Mishap,Government of Andhra Pradesh , pg. 53
Ibid., p.55
Ibid.pp.66-67
Ibid. p.82
‘Reddy’ was one of the most dominant caste that ruled the state of A.P. for 25 years continuously till N.T.Rama Rao, a most popular cinema hero broke their monopoly in 1983 by launching his Telugu Desam Party. Incidentally N.T.Rama Rao belong to another dominant rich Kamma Caste which rivals Reddys. While Reddys control the backward Telangana region of A.P., the Kammas hold the Keyboard in the advanced coastal Andhra region. The ‘Telaga’ caste is another upcoming third force in the state politics. It is spread mainly in costal and Rayalaseema regions. Having sound forays in industry, commerce and cini industry, the Telagas are reportedly aspiring to take over the state leadership.
For a clear picture of the butchery see page 18 of the Report of Commission of Enquiry on Tsundur masscare by justice A.Gangadhar Rao.
10. (D.S.P. Railaiah as)told to Eenadu, Telugu daily 7.8.91
11. Ibid. p.40-1
When the state itself was going through an upsurge of Kamma ascertain consequent to the catapulation of its member N.T.Rama Rao to Chief Ministership and also the C.Ms elder son-in-law hailed from this village.
Report of the Commission of Enquiry on Karamchedu carnage by Retired justice D.P. Desai, p.2.
Op-cit.11 p.18
Op-cit.18 p.24
Keer, Dhanunjay - Dr.Ambedkar’Life and Minion P.415. Popular, Bombay 1954
Opcit 16, P.283.
The author is currently Deputy Registrar at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and was formerly on the faculty of Political Science Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
V. Prasanna Kumar Prof. I. Rambrahmam
The ‘Right to Life’ is basic, divine and universal to all mankind. Yet, for the 24 million Untouchable Dalits of India, it is ‘a right on trial’ and ‘a guarantee that is observed more in breach than in faith’.
The infinity of atrocities on Dalits (1) in independent India would speak volumes on how the constitutionally guaranteed civic rights are still denied to these once social outcastes. In juxtaposition to this, the formidable armory (2) of anti atrocity acts and statutes like article 17 of the constitution, Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), the Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1955 and the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 appears to have remained as “cobras without stings” and would speak of the legislative and executive inertia. Judiciary in India is considered progressive by far and by large. But the same progressive activism and initiative is lacking in judiciary when it confronts the issues of Dalit. Ex:- Relegation of SCs from first to seventh point in recruitment Roster, no conviction to the offenders of SC/ST atrocities and saying ‘No’ to the suggestion of the President of India for reservation in judiciary too. Slowly but steadily it appears even the judiciary is sliding into this volley of hallow promises.
An attempt is made here to examine how even the judicial and quasi judicial systems are drifting away from being ‘benevolent adjudicator’ to a passive spectator’. For this purpose, the reports of three Judicial Enquiry Commissions (JEC): one, Padirikuppam (1983), two, Karamchedu (1985) and three, Tsundur (1991); all in Andhra Pradesh are considered here as these are all established cases of most dreadful attacks on Dalits civic right to life.
Padirikuppam: Acquitting the ruling classes:
Acquitting the ruling classes has come to stay as fait accompli of many JECs concerning atrocities on Dalits. And Padirikuppam is no exception.
On 5th January 1983, minutes after the polling to the state assembly elections was over, the entire Dalit Wada was attacked by a mob of caste Hindus. Some 85 Dalit houses were burnt into ashes by caste Hindus in which four Dalits were immolated and five hundred persons were rendered shelter less. Buckling under the pressures of Ambedkarite Organisations , a Commission of enquiry was constituted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) on 17th January,1983 (with Sri Y.Venkateswara Rao, retired High Court Judge as its Chairman). The Chief accusation of Dalits was that 500 Telugu Desam Party workers headed by the sons, nephews and other close relatives of E.V.Gopala Raju, then Telugu Desam candidate for Nagiri assembly segment, raided the Dalitwada immediately after the polling was over and set fire to Dalits houses suspecting the support of Dalits to their rival Congress (I) candidate. As usual, Gopala Raju and his men not only denied any role for them in the riot instead dubbed the whole episode as the handiwork of Dalits themselves with the sinister motive of securing new houses besides attractive sums of ex-gratia.
This being the crux of the case, the Commission after enquiry submitted a report which: (1) confirmed the raid and arson on Dalitwada on 5.1.1983 (2) but not by Gopala Raju and his relatives as alleged by Dalits, (3) nevertheless, by SOME MEN (emphasis not of the commission but by the author) whose identity the commission failed to establish. The foregoing analyses would spot the commission conspicuous of two reasons; 1) the Commission failed in its basic task of identifying the persons responsible for the arson, but 2) notwithstanding this, undertook the extraordinary burden of acquitting Gopala Raju and Telugu Desam Party which is totally unwarranted and unreferred to.
Absolving the corroborators:
From the beginning, the Dalits were suspicious of the role of the local S.I. Naganna. The accused collusion of SI with Gopal Raju of Telugu Desam has lead to his immediate transfer from Padirikuppam as a measure of palliviating Dalit anger. The Commission also did not hide its displeasure over the role of Naganna, then local Sub Inspector of Police (SI). “ It is unfortunate that Inspector Naganna should have given room for comment about the genuineness of the endorsement made by him in Exhibit A-13(3). This kind of imperfect investigation seems to justify the contention that the time entered in the FIR should not be taken for granted and the that the report was prepared only the next morning and that after due deliberation” (4). The judge annoyingly observed further that “the statements which Inspector Naganna admittedly recorded from ten witnesses should have been made over to his successor on 8th January, 1983 when he was relieved of his office. They were made available only long afterwards and that too after some correspondence”. Yet the Commission failed to recommend any punishment on the SI.
Denigration of Dalit witness :
A close examination of the commission’s proceedings reveal that it had two fold strategy . While at the bottom, the culprits and corroborators are to be absolved, the commission had conveniently chosen to underplay the veracity of witness by Dalits. A1 to A8 are witnesses from Dalits. The commission declared the witness of A2 as a “tissue of lies” A3 as ‘trash’ A4 as ‘partisan’ and A6 as ‘false’ on the pretext that they belong to the same political party of accuser. The Commission choose to dismiss the witness statement of A4 on the ground that (1) his presence on the spot was doubtful and (2) he belongs to Samithi President Narayanaswamy’s (congress I) group. In the commission’s eyes, A5 “tried to corroborate the same evidence of A3 by claiming to be an eye witness but it is dangerous to rely upon his evidence as he has absolutely no respect for truth”. The Commission had liberally concluded the statement of another witness Smt.B.Chengamma,A6, as false, just because she was continuing her life as cooli even after her brother became Samithi President. “It is highly doubtful that she would take up work as cooli on daily wages and that too, in a different village when she is no other than Samithi President Narayanaswamy’s own sister”(5).
Thus, out of a total of eight witness is deposed on behalf of the Dalit Victims, the judge mastered his intelligence to show as many as six are false and unreliable. At no stage, the judge exhibited faith in what the Dalit victims were anguishing. At the same time it appears that no opportunity was left unveiled throughout to acquit of Gopala Raju and his relatives. This was evident from his concluding observation: “It is, therefore, quite possible that none of the persons named in Ex. A-13 including the sons and nephews of E.V.Gopala Raju or his close relatives were amongst the group of persons that raided China Harijanawada and set fire to the houses there on 5th January 1983 and that only their henchmen carried out this nefarious task” (6).
While the Govt. asked the commission under ref; 3.II to determine the identity of the persons responsible for the raid, it did the other way exactly by identifying those who are not responsible for the raid. Is it not interesting? It just didn’t stop there. The Commission did perform another unassigned and unreferred task with devotion and ease by absolving Telugu Desam Party also from any involvement in this affair.
“The arson and other acts of violence against the residents of China Harijanwada on 5th January 1983 cannot be regarded as acts of the party” (7) How could the judge arrive at this conclusion? Does the judge have a list of those ‘SOME MEN’ responsible for the arson? If not, how can he verify and conclude that they are not Telugu Desam men? If yes, had their political leanings been verified and established? Inversely, the same persons should have been declared as responsible for the arson. But without all this how does the commission expect us to believe that they are SOME MEN, belonging to Gopala Raju who is contesting for the assembly as TDP candidate but not TDP men? . Thus the whole process of enquiry was evidentially loaded against the Dalit victims with an added concern for the accused (ruling classes).
TSUNDUR- The perfect collusion:
Tsundur is a richly irrigated village 7kms.away from Tenali, Divisional Revenue Headquarters of Guntur dt. in A.P.
Originally there was a minor scuffle in the Cinema Hall of Tsundur Village one night. The reported reason was that the foot of one untouchable youth, (Conscious or unconscious), had touched the rear of an upper caste woman sitting in the front row. Enough, clouds thundered in a minute over the boy. Following the next day, there was a massive showdown and aborted clash on 12-7-1991 between the upper castes and untouchables.
After the aborted clash between the Dalits and upper castes on 12.7.91, the villagers have imposed a social boycott on Dalits . Both revenue and police officials for 23 days ignored this a social boycott which is a heinous offence. The result was 5 Dalits were butchered and pieces of flush were thrown into the flowing drains on the early hours of 6-8-1991, by the upper caste alliance.
Failure of Revenue and Police: Inability or Intended collusion:
According to Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Tenali, he received a group of Dalits at his residence who survived the butchery by fleeing across the paddy fields around 2330 and 2400 hours of 6.8.91. They narrated clearly to the RDO that Dalits of Tsundur were attacked by truck loads of Reddys and Telagas (8) armed with deadly weapons in the paddy fields. They killed as many Dalits as could be nabbed, butchered the bodies into pieces, packed them into gunny bags and threw them in to drains and canals. (9) Was this tear shedding revelation of the survived victims not sufficient for the Divisional Magistrate to order for immediate search operations on war foot informing the same at once to District Magistrate and Collector. It appears the answer was a capital NO as the RDO choose only to telephone his subordinate officers the Mandal Revenue Officer and C.I. stationed at Tsundur and Deputy Superintendent of Police at Tenali who were all sitting tight over the tragedy denying all such talk as just canard or rumor. But these ground level revenue and Police officials knows that the men of upper castes as well as Dalits have deserted the village for more than 18 hours by then. The Police did find some blood stained clothes on the morning hours of 6.8.91 in the houses of upper castes. The survived Dalits narrated the butchery to RDO but still for the Police and Revenue Departments every thing was ‘under control’ (10).
Here is yet another classic proof of police connivance and lethargy. Same day (6.8.91) at 21.25 hrs. a couple of Dalits with severe bleeding injuries got themselves admitted into Government Hospital, Tenali. Their statements describing the whole butchery were recorded around 22.15hrs. by one Head Constable of Tenali rural PS. Why did this constable not informed this either to his senior officer or the DSP who resides just a few yards from the hospital and was it not a grave break down of Law and order ? The DSP reportedly came to know about it only on the next morning i.e. 7.8.91 around 07.00hrs. when he was on the way to join the RDO to visit Tsundur together. Then he drove back to Government Hospital, spoke to the victims and then proceeded to Tsundur along with RDO but he too doesn’t seem to feel the gravity of the crime as he also remained silent without informing either SP or District Collector. The blood stricken tragic revelation of those two Dalit survivors in the Hospital seem to be inadequate to move the connived heart of the DSP to shed out his corroboration and plunge into action.
Can ever be more willful negligence?
Now, let us examine the sensitivity and preparedness of the District administration on matters concerning Dalits right to life.
At about 11.00hrs. on 7.7.91, the Collector of Guntur District who was in a meeting received the first message from RDO, Tenali that there was a rumor of large scale massacre of Dalits, dead bodies thrown into drains and search parties were in action. The collector again received another message from RDO, Tenali camping at Tsundur around 3 p.m. that 2 dead bodies were found in paddy fields. Then Collector asked the RDO to arrange for the identification of the dead bodies and report back. The Collector’s office simultaneously made frantic attempts between 15.00hrs. to 16.30hrs. with the Additional Superintendent of Police to get confirmation but the poor Addl. S.P. was completely in darkness. Let us see his affidavit submitted to the Commission.(11)
At 16.00hrs. of 7.8.91, on receiving message from the collector he contacted the Special Branch (SB) Control Room at Guntur and also Tsundur police station through the police wireless control room Guntur. He was informed by the Head Constable incharge of S.B. Control Room that there was no report of such incident at Tsundur (even after 38hrs. from the committal of butchery ). Then he contacted the Police Constable (PC) who was on sentry duty at Tsundur police station. The PC also replied that no incident of violence was reported at the police station. Perplexed Additional S.P. then instructed the sentry P.C. Tsundur to put immediately the camping Dy.S.P. Tenali into line. Complying to this whip only, at about 16.35 hrs. the cool-go Dy.S.P. Tenali informed that two dead bodies of Dalits were found in the fields situated outside Tsundur village and it was suspected that many more Dalits were murdered by the upper caste people. Had the Additional S.P. not enquired, no one knows as to howmany days the (connived) DSP would have silently sat over the holocaust. When tried to inform the same on telephone to the District Collector, the Addl.SP was curtly told that the Collector had already left for Tsundur i.e. between 16.35 and 16.45hrs. of 7.8.91.
Sufficient evidence is flown into the foregone paragraphs to demonstrate that at no stage between 23.00 hrs. of 6.8.91(when the first news received by them) and 16.35p.m. of 7.8.91, for almost 18 hours the local DSP is seen to have made hardly any attempt to inform his own office or his superiors of this tragic incident. Contrarily, his revenue counterpart, i.e., RDO had made 2 successful and 1 unsuccessful call to the Collector between 06.00hrs. and 16.30hrs. of 7.8.91. The available evidence is adequate enough to establish the malafides of the DSP. Thus the first man to be charged with dereliction of duty is the DSP, Tenali who was able to suppress the information made known to the District Collector and Superintendent of Police for nearly 18 hours. Unfortunately or ironically he too was a Dalit .
The following conclusions would emerge from the above discussion.
1. All the available evidence upholds that the Dy.S.P. Tenali sat over the tragedy for nearly 18 hours informing neither his own office nor his superiors, SP and Collector.
2.The top district police chief seem to have been kept in complete darkness and isolation. From the local police station at Tsundur to the District Police Control Room at Guntur, wireless communications systems were not put to use for reasons best known to them only.
3.The District Collector and Executive Magistrate according to the available evidence seem to have been rather slow in reacting to such a sensitive issue with all the concern necessary. This is evident from his failure to provide foresighted leadership between 11.00hrs. and 16.30 hrs. of 7.9.91.
4. Coordination which is the hallmark of any administration is conspicuous by its absence between the Revenue and Police Chiefs either at the District level or at the division level. The intra-departmental coordination in Police Department was surprisingly nil. It appears unbelievable that the local police station of Tsundur, just a two hundred yards away from the massacre sight was not even aware of the tragedy till 16.30hrs. of 7.8.91 i.e. for nearly 34 hours after the ghastly murders. The District Control Room was equally in darkness for nearly 34 hrs. More surprising is the rushing of the District Collector to the spot without the Additional S.P. from whom he sought details.
Thus inability and inapt handling of the then prevailing social tensions on time by revenue officials coupled with the brazen collusion of Police Department at division level, led to the wholesale massacre of Dalits.
Let us ponder, what was the JUSTICE delivered to the Dalits of Tsundur by the constitution of Dr.Ambedkar. Having discussed the judiciary and also executive responses to the two major atrocities let us examine yet another blow to the very survival of Dalit community in Karamchedu (1985) which occurred in between Padirikuppam (1983) and Tsundur (1991).
KARAMCHEDU: The dichotomy of Dominance Vs. Assertion
Financial self sufficiency, education and assertion of self respect by the conscious Dalits of Karamchedu was viewed as a formidable challenge to the dominance of affluent upper castes for quite a long time preceding the carnage. And this challenge seems to have been aptly met with by the dominant Kamma caste at an opportune time. (12). Though five Dalits were butchered across Paddy fields and the entire 400 Dalit families have got permanently debased and deserted the village to Chirala, a nearby Municipal town: all this was the consequence of one Dalit women’s human instinct to use the water from the village tank. Neither the police nor the judicial Enquiry Commission (JEC) could make any break-through till date in bringing the culprits to the book. However, in contrast to the earlier JECs discussed above, this Commission on Karamchedu did not have any scope to exhibit partisan attitude in the wake of its boycott by Dalits themselves.
"Part of the blame for this development should go to Dalit Mahasabha which spearheaded the agitation for justice and rehabilitation of victims as it was the principle force that dictated the boycott” (13) remarked justice(Rd) Desai of the Karamchedu Enquiry commission. Thus the commission failed to make any progress with regard to 1 and 2 of the terms referred, either causes for the carnage or persons responsible for it. Thus the Commission report is inconclusive if not incomplete.
Nevertheless, some of the recommendations of Justice Desai are indeed innovative and pioneering (14) like: (1) creation of special courts to try cases of atrocities (2) separate legislation on SC/STs similar to that of TADA Act 1985 with cursory provisions like atrocity cess as exist in Bombay Police Act 1951 and (3) appropriate care must be taken to see that there shall always be one SC/ST Officer at least among the top 4 positions in a District viz District Collector, District Judge, Superintendent of Police, Joint Collector. Thus Justice Desai happens to be the forerunner of special courts and SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.
JECS: Exploit or Boycott:
There can be no disagreement with the Dalit Leaders legalistic contention that these commissions by their very social nature and history cannot be expected to render any justice. But the same cannot hold good on social and political fronts. Any social movement, particularly for the cause of social equity and justice, cannot afford to miss any smallest opportunity or forum to expose clearly the existing social inequities, perpetuation of atrocities, usurpation of Dalits civic rights by dominant classes directly as well in collusion with the State. It was not out of faith that patriotic nationalists like Bhagat Singh, Dange, Tilak, Pant, Nehru, Gandhi,Subhash C.Bose etc., deposed before British courts but only to expose the oppressor violently to the entire democratic world and thereby charge up the public with the cause. Therefore, it would be in the interests of the Dalit Community and in the interests of exposing unitedly the forces inimical to Dalit advancement, that the Dalit leaders should reconsider their stand Vis-à-vis the Judicial Enquiry Commissions. The observation made by Justice Gangadhara Rao of Tsundur Enquiry Commission is relevant to be recalled here: “I have to state that I am handicapped by the fact that the Dalits have not chosen to cooperate with the Commission and thereby I have lost the benefit of their version of events. I am not able to determine and identify the persons responsible for the murder of Dalits on 5th August 1991, because the Dalit victims who are the best persons to give evidence, direct and circumstantial, have chosen to boycott the commission and did not adduce any evidence before the Commission”.(15)
Dawning Despair-Need for Consensus:
The State in India had induced Dalits so averse and indifferent to some of its vital institutions like the Police and Judiciary. The first ever formal complaint on Tsundur tragedy by the Dalit victims was made on 24.8.91 i.e. after 18 days. Another one on 1.9.91 which means after 24 days. This apathy of one fourths of its populace has surfaced to the forefront
of the national agenda to which the state has to address immediately. Any more delay/ neglect of State in this regard is bound to commission the centrifugal forces into operation thereby rendering cracks in the state operatus more visible, irreparable and ultimately explosive as forecasted already by Dr.Ambedkar as under: (16)
“On January 26,1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality…… we must remember this contradiction at the earliest movement or else though who suffer from inequality will blowup the structure of political democracy which this assembly has so laboriously built up”.
Towards the establishment of an Atrocity-Free society-some
thoughts
Given the lethargy of the legislature, complacency of executive, collusion of police and disinclination of judiciary (as detailed above) in the protection of Dalits civic rights the following suggestions with regard to prevention of atrocities demand immediate consideration of Central and State governments.
1. The constitution, Peoples Representation Act 1956 shall be amended forthwith incorporating the award of following punishments on the inflictors of atrocities on Dalits. These are: (a) disenfranchisement and (b) debarring from contesting of elections (municipal to national level) for atleast 7 years.
2. The recent POTA act brought out to combat terrorism, can be suitably modified to include atrocities against SC/ST also.
3. Similarly, the proposal to impose an “Atrocity Cess” on all those accused in riots on Dalits needs serious and immediate consideration.
4. Serious thought may be given for confiscation of the properties of those who were convicted for perpetuation of atrocities against Dalits
5. Cr.PC.437 and 439 should be amended providing for nonbailability to those persons accused of involvement in atrocities against SC/STs.
6. The Cr.PC. must be amended facilitating declaration of any atrocity against Dalits as a capital offense and minimum imprisonment period must be raised to 5 years in proven cases of atrocities against SC/STs.
7. The words WILLFUL NEGLECT in Section V of the latest SC , ST Prevent of Atrocities Act, 1989 need to be amended providing for deletion of the word “willful” before ‘neglect’ and should be linked to Article 311., thereby empowering the Chief Executives to apply Atricle 311 on those employees who found to be negligent, whether willful or otherwise in protecting the constitutional rights of Dalits.
8. Also this is high time to invoke Article 311 on those officers having
negligent record in combating atrocities on weaker sections .
9. The free legal aid facility presently available needs to be strengthened by incorporating provision for payment of compensatory or subsistence allowance at court in connection with atrocity cases/enquiries.
10. The Government of India should also take up a thorough review of all anti - atrocity acts with a view to plug in the loopholes in the light of our long experience and suggestions stated above.
CONCLUSION:
Ambedkar warned way back in 1937 that “the Swaraj wherein no fundamental rights are guaranteed for the depressed classes would not be a swaraj for us. It would indeed be a new slavery”.(17) This was vindicated in Karamchedu, Padirikuppam and Tsundur. This foresightedness of Ambedkar is still a relevant torch bearer for us even after 56 years of independent India’s long and tardy journey towards social justice and basic human rights.
FOOT NOTES
Like Keelavenmani, Karamchedu, Kanchikacharla, Belchi, Begusarai, Padirikuppam, Tsundur, Gaya, Jehanabad, Tirunalveli, Tanjor etc. are some will remembered notorious atrocities on Indian Dalits.
The Constitution of India, , provided in Article 15 that no citizen would be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment, use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of general public. Article 17 of the Constitution declared that “untouchability” was abolished and its practice in
any form was forbidden. It was further provided that the enforcement of any disability arising out of “untouchability” would be an offence punishable in accordance with law. For banishing the practices of economic exploitation of vulnerable sections of society a provision was included in Article 23 prohibiting traffic in human beings and “beggar” and similar other forms of forced labour and it was declared that contravention of this provision would be an offence punishable in accordance with law.
In order to give effect to these Constitutional provisions the following enactments have been made:
i) The Untouchability (Offences Act, 1955, later amended and retitled as the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955
ii) The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
iii) The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act,1976
There are two important legislations related to Article 17, viz., The protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (PCRA), and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989(PAA). Initially the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955, had been enacted to abolish the practice of untouchability and social disabilities arising out of it against members of the Scheduled Castes. It was amended in 1977 and is now known as the protection of Civil rights Act, 1955. Under this cognizable and non-compoundable and stricter punishment was provided for the offenders. To check the commission of atrocities on SC and ST, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, came into force on 31-11990. The Act, inter alia, specifies six types of offences as atrocities, provides for imposition of stricter penalties for the guilty and setting up of Special Courts for speedy trial of such cases. The crimes under the PCRA were brought under the purview of the PAA as the latter provides for stricter punishment to the offenders.
Ex.A 13 is the serial order no.given to the FIR in the affidavits filed before the Enquiry Commission.
Report of the commission of Enquiry on “Padirikuppam Harijanwada Fire Mishap,Government of Andhra Pradesh , pg. 53
Ibid., p.55
Ibid.pp.66-67
Ibid. p.82
‘Reddy’ was one of the most dominant caste that ruled the state of A.P. for 25 years continuously till N.T.Rama Rao, a most popular cinema hero broke their monopoly in 1983 by launching his Telugu Desam Party. Incidentally N.T.Rama Rao belong to another dominant rich Kamma Caste which rivals Reddys. While Reddys control the backward Telangana region of A.P., the Kammas hold the Keyboard in the advanced coastal Andhra region. The ‘Telaga’ caste is another upcoming third force in the state politics. It is spread mainly in costal and Rayalaseema regions. Having sound forays in industry, commerce and cini industry, the Telagas are reportedly aspiring to take over the state leadership.
For a clear picture of the butchery see page 18 of the Report of Commission of Enquiry on Tsundur masscare by justice A.Gangadhar Rao.
10. (D.S.P. Railaiah as)told to Eenadu, Telugu daily 7.8.91
11. Ibid. p.40-1
When the state itself was going through an upsurge of Kamma ascertain consequent to the catapulation of its member N.T.Rama Rao to Chief Ministership and also the C.Ms elder son-in-law hailed from this village.
Report of the Commission of Enquiry on Karamchedu carnage by Retired justice D.P. Desai, p.2.
Op-cit.11 p.18
Op-cit.18 p.24
Keer, Dhanunjay - Dr.Ambedkar’Life and Minion P.415. Popular, Bombay 1954
Opcit 16, P.283.
The author is currently Deputy Registrar at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and was formerly on the faculty of Political Science Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
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