Speaking At a reception Organized! by the Society of Depressed People for Social JustIce at Delhi, Justice V.R. Krishan Tyer accused’ the government of being “callous to the problems of the poor particularly the scheduled Castes and the scheduled tribes”. For instance, Bajrang, a Harijan died in May as a result of police torture in the Jaipur area of Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. Two constables had a fight with One person who was allegedly Carrying hand grenades in a bag. One of the hand grenades exploded, injuring one of the policemen. The other policeman beat up the man and dragged him to the police Station along with Bajrang. Bajrang was asked to testify against the arrested person. When he refused to be a witness, he was arrested and locked up. Next, the world heard of Bajrang was when he was rushed to the hospital where he died, according to the postmortem report because of injuries and torture. Nearly two and a half months have elapsed since then and yet no action has been taken against the killer policemen. There is a temple of Srinathji at Nathdwara, 40 km from the tourist town’ of ‘Udaipur. The local Hanijans are not allowed to enter the temple and when once they had entered the temple, a large mob collected inside and started shouting, “Bhangi hain, Bhangi hain”. Those who had entered were an ex-M.P. and Misra who they mistook for a Harijan. The two took refuge in a shop outside the temple but the mob pursued them. They tried to burn the shop even though one of them showed his sacred thread inside to prove that he was really a brahmin. Meanwhile a police contingent arrived but was greeted by brick bats from roof tops. At least seven policemen and several other people were injured. When the police tried to rescue the MPs, the police jeep used in the attempt was set on fire. Fortunately, at this point, senior officials arrived with reinforcements and the crowd was finally dispersed:
The Harijans live in the town in Bhangiwade but they live there in subhuman conditions fact of life writes Tarlochan Singh in India Today. Till 1947, they were required to scream out every time they walked through the streets of Nathdwara so that people of superior castes could avert their faces and move out of the range of their shadows.”
There are other more degrading signs “Hanjans cannot eat in hotels in the holy city. They sit outside and their food is thrown down to them. They are now permitted to enter shops but cannot sit down, tailors will not measure them for fear of becoming polluted, and every time they need a haircut they have to spend Rs. 14 and go to Udaipur where anonymity guarantees that a barber will at least touch them.
Nathdwara Harijan families have educated children and a standard of cleanliness that matches those of upper castes. Yet they remain outcastes. The only joo that the municipality will give to a graduate Harijan is that of a chowkidar. The children are educated but they cannot get jobs in Nathdwara. This is their biggest problem.
How can the Sikhs accept justice and be not discriminated against when a section of its own population the Harijans are treated in this manner by the caste ridden Hindu society? In the Punjab, the Governor, the police chief, the chief secretary, the home secretary, the finance secretary are all non-Sikhs and yet the Sikhs are being entreated to join the national mainstream. How ridiculous!
Article extracted from this publication >> August 21, 1987
