No hair-cut for Dalits in this Muzzafarnagar village
Muzzafarnagar (UP): We have read in our history books about the time when our country was plagued by untouchability, when communities considered as untouchables were not allowed to enter public spaces and were socially secluded.
You would think have times changed and all communities are being given the same rights and freedoms enshrined in our constitution.
Believe it or not, there is still a village that follows the ancient tradition of caste based discrimination.
In Bhup Khedi village in Muzaffarnagar, Dalits are not allowed in the same salons where upper-class communities go for their haircuts. In fact, Thakurs of the village have announced a blanket ban, against Dalits from getting salon services from the shops they visit.
Located 80 kms from New Delhi, the Bhup Khedi village in Muzaffarnagar still follows laws made by the Thakurs which deny Dalits their rights.
Barbers in the village have been pressurized by the upper-caste not to provide any salon services to Dalits and have been warned of consequences otherwise.
The Dalits have decided to raise their voice against this injustice and bring an end to this age-old custom. They organised a panchayat to raise their voices against such laws.
"Since childhood we are seeing that our elders cannot get a hair-cut from the barbers in our village neither can we. Whenever we go to any shop the barber either gives excuse of being too busy or says directly that Thakurs have asked us not to cut your hair," said Harish Kumar, a member of the Dalit community.
To get the usual task of getting a haircut, these dalits have to travel to nearby villages and get the job done. No barber in their village agrees to provide them services.
Harish further said, "We have to travel to nearby villages to get a haircut. No one ever raised voice against this injustice or if someone even did, then they were muted by the hooligans. But now we have decided and stand united against this practice. Our panchayat pradhan also supports us. We will break this practice to an end at all cost and get treated with same respect as is mentioned for everyone in our constitution."
But this is not the only problem the victim community faces. They don't even get marriage proposals from outside the village as others think they are too oppressed.
Another Dalit from the village, Ram Phool, said "Neither our elders got a haircut nor did we. Even our children can't get a haircut in the village. We are troubled. We don't even get marriage proposals for our children as others tell us that we live under too much oppression. Thakurs consider you untouchable and have imposed prohibition. Now we want that we also get haircuts in the village itself."
Sheru, a barber, in the village said "When Thakurs pressurized me to not provide any service to Dalits I shut my shop. They threatened to beat me if I did so."
When the media approached Dinesh Kumar Singh, the Muzzafarnagar district magistrate for his comments, he said "I came to knew about this incident from you all and I will conduct an investigation in this regard. If anyone imposes any such order, it's wrong. We will not let this happen. We will investigate and take appropriate action."
There are hair salons that refuse to give haircuts to Dalit customers. This blatant form of discrimination is alive today in certain parts of India. Even certain upper-caste barbers who are willing to engage in business with Dalit customers have been threatened and warned against it. This pressure only increases the sense of inequality in the region. Deccan Chronicle
Link to Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in-other-news/270616/no-hair-cut-for-dalits-in-this-muzzafarnagar-village.html
The National Campaign Against Torture (NCAT) in its “India: Annual Report on Torture 2019” released on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture stated that a total of 1,731 persons died in custody during 2019 i.e. deaths of about five persons daily. These included 1,606 deaths in judicial custody and 125 deaths in police custody.
Torture is perpetrated to extract confession or bribes and torture methods used in 2019 included hammering iron nails in the body (Bihar), applying roller on legs and burning (Jammu & Kashmir), ‘falanga’ wherein the soles of the feet are beaten (Kerala), stretching legs apart in opposite side (Kerala), hitting in private parts (Haryana), electric shock (Punjab and Uttar Pradesh), pouring petrol in private parts (Uttar Pradesh), applying chilly power in private parts (Kerala) beating while being hand-cuffed (Kerala), pricking needle into body (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), branding with hot iron rod (3-Year-old minor in Tamil Nadu), beating after stripping (Haryana and Assam), urinating in mouth (Uttar Pradesh), inserting hard blunt object into anus (Bihar), beating after hanging upside down with hands and legs tied (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh), forcing to perform oral sex (Gujarat), pressing finger nails with pliers (Assam), beating with iron rods after victim is suspended between two tables with both hands and legs tied (Madhya Pradesh), forced to do Murga pose or stress position (Haryana), and kicking in belly of pregnant woman (Assam).
Indian police officers in the town of Nagina chased a group of Muslim teenagers into an empty house. They grabbed them and took them to a makeshift jail. And then, the boys and community leaders said, the officers tortured them.
Four of the boys, who ranged in age from 13 to 17, said that police officers used wooden canes to beat them and threatened to kill them.
Indian Police officers over the course of 30 hours terrorized them.
According to two of the boys, the officers laughed during beatings, saying, “You will die in this prison.”
More accounts are emerging of abuse meted out by police officers.
Almost all the violence has been directed toward Muslim residents. More people — at least 19 — have been killed!
Witnesses said that police officers opened fire on demonstrators with live ammunition, broke into houses and stole money, and threatened to rape women.
Police officers were encouraged by their superiors to kill protesters.
The Indian police have become a lynch mob! Inidan police officers having been given the green light by senior officials to use harsh measures against Muslims.
A 20-year-old Dalit man was allegedly burnt alive over his relationship with a woman from another caste, the killing causing his mother to die of shock.
The victim was beaten up, kept hostage in a house and set ablaze.
Locals rushed to the spot on hearing his cries and took him to a local hospital. He was referred to a Lucknow hospital but succumbed to injuries on the way.
India : Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Telangana2018-09-20
A father attacked his 20-year-old daughter and her newlywed husband in the heart of the city on Wednesday, chopping off her left forearm and slashing her jaw. The incident comes days after a Dalit youth was mercilessly murdered in front his pregnant wife in Nalgonda district.
Police said the father was upset over the inter-caste marriage — the woman an OBC (Other Backward Class), her husband, B Sandeep (22), a Dalit. Sandeep and Madhavi Chary, in a relationship for five years, secretly got married on September 12, despite stiff opposition from her father.
Madhavi was left with a 12-inch gash on her neck and jawline and her left forearm barely hung by the skin. She was in a 10-hour surgery at the time of going to print. Sandeep, in another hospital, received 10 stitches to close the deep wound at the angle of his mouth; the attending doctors said he was in deep shock.
