Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Oct 30: A Dalit family on Thursday October 29 alleged that they were harassed, their house demolished, and they threatened over a land dispute.

Addressing the media, one of the alleged victims, Venkatesh said that he and his family have been residing on a land bearing survey no 40-2 at Srinivasa Nagara in Suratkal village since childhood where his father had built a house. Out of the 38 cents land, 10 cents was given for building a temple and in the remaining land 16 coconut trees were planted and a pond was dug.

"After my father passed away in 2010, neighbours Babu Shetty, Rajesh Shetty and Padmanabha Shetty started threatening us and forced us to give the 28 cents land to the temple. When we were out of town, taking advantage of the situation, they trespassed into our property and robbed household items worth Rs 2 lac and destroyed the coconut trees and the pond. When we arrived after 2 days and learned this from our neighbours, they did not allow us to enter the house. They threatened to beat us in case we tried to enter our own property," Venkatesh alleged.

"Recently we went to ask them why they were doing so when we had only that house to live. They called their supporters who came with machete and insulted us with bad words and abused our caste also. They also threatened to kill us if we approached the police or any Dalit organization. We left from there out of fear. With the help of a Dalit organization, a complaint was lodged in Suratkal police station. The accused were arrested and are currently on bail until January 1. Now they are threatening us over the phone demanding to withdraw the case. We have threat to our life from these people," he said.

"They have built a new house on our land and a person named Anil Mukkaje is living there. He belongs to our caste but is not related to us and he also owns 2 houses including one in Kavoor," said Venkatesh.

Family members Kusuma, Neelesh, Babita and Sundar were present at the press meet.