the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to whom the constitution gives special protection. An example is the alleged torture of nine tribal leaders by the Dhambhola Police in Dungarpur district, Rajasthan, in August 1987. They were arrested after participating in a demonstration demanding better relief work and prompt payment of minimum wages during droughts. The nine were eventually released after a petition had been filed on their behalf in the Supreme Court. Another example is the case of 150 Scheduled Caste families from Raunia village, Gaya district, in Bihar. These families maintained in a petition submitted to the Supreme Court in April 1987 that the police, siding with local landowners, had tortured them on the grounds that they had committed a theft. They claimed that excrement had been forced into their mouths and hot water poured over them. The police later reportedly arrested some of the same villagers on what the latter claimed were false charges. In Maharashtra, tribal people from Thane and Raigad districts, deprived of traditional lands and requesting rights of ownership of their houses, have alleged that in early 1987 they were beaten and in some cases given electric shocks by the local police, who were said to have been acting in collusion with middle agents involved in taking over tribal land.