Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jul 28: The spat between the leaders of Karnataka Dalita Sangharsha Smiti (KDSS) and the complainants under SC/ST act came into the open in a monthly meeting of SC/ST convened to hear pleas at the polce commissioner's office here on Saturday July 26.
On the request of one of the attendees of the meeting who advised the police commissioner R Hitendra Kumar not to entertain civil cases in the meeting, the commissioner directed the attendants not to bring-in cases pertaining to civil disputes henceforth.
Convener of the district KDSS Girish coming down heavily against the complainants, opined that the stringent laws in force to protect the interests of SC/ST were being misused by his community.
However, S P Anand who spoke on behalf of plaintiff Vijay, who was fooled by a man caliming to be an astrologer, voiced in the meeting that the complaint was genuine. The dubious astrologer, Jaganath Joshi fooled Vijay, allegedly collected money and orally abused using below par language. Referring to the old cases lodged on Joshi, Anand said that he had been sent to jail in one of the cases and was out on bail. This would ascertain the plea of the complainant.
On the other hand Girish contended that in case of the astrologer, the complainant had given a fabricated version before the police. He urged the commissioner to instigate fair investigation to unearth the truth.
In another land dispute, wherein according to Girish, a lady named Ramya, who did not belong to SC/ST, was allowed to illegally shelter in a land allotted exclusively for the SC/ST's.
Ramya said that the police had harassed her and allegedly forced her to visit the police station.
"I have been facing repeated harassment from the police since two months," she said. She argued that no wrong doings were committed by her.
Since the matter pertained to the revenue department, the commissioner said that he would put a word to the AC to deal with the issue and resolve the problem. The commissioner heard as many as five pleas of SC/STs, even one of the attendant urging the police to abide by the constitution to provide justice for the backwards castes.