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January 9, 1998
Indian Embassy
Washington, DC

Dalits NOT Safe in India

MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

News Reports

December 1st, 1997

Amnesty Int'l

Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace

The Politics of the Caste System and the Practice of Untouchability

CASE STUDIES

Raid Kodiankulam, August 1995 - Destruction of Dalit village, lives and property

Tsundum Massacre, August 1991 - Genocide of Young Dalit Men

Rajasthan massacre, June 1992 - Systematic genocide of Dalits

Dalit child blinded, August 1995 - Because of the notion of pollution

Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Trust of America
7700 Old Branch Avenue Suite #C-101
Clinton, Md. 20735 USA
Tel: 301-866- 9066 Fax: 301-868 4989

Chairman
Dr. Laxmi N. Berwa MD. FACP

Secretary General
K.P. Singh

Secretary Public Relations
Raju S.D. Charles

December 16, 1997

** PRESS RELEASE **

A protest march will be held to condemn the butchery of sixty-one Dalits by landlord militia in the state of Bihar of India.

PLACE: Indian Embassy 2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC USA

DATE: January 9, 1998

TIME: 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

For further information please contact Dr. Berwa at the address, telephone or fax listed above.

Harlakhi and Lakhwar Killings: Fall-Out of Assembly Elections - 1990

"Dalits NOT Safe in India"

(An urgent appeal to the humanity of the world to intervene on their behalf for their safety and protection, because governmental agencies have failed to prevent the slaughter of sixty-one Dalits mostly women and children in the state of Bihar at the hand of upper caste private militia on December l, 1997.)

"For the ills which the Untouchables are suffering, if they are not as much advertised as those of the Jews, and are not less real. Nor arc the means and the methods of suppression used by the Hindus against the Untouchables less effective because they are less bloody than the ways   which the Nazis have adopted against the Jews. The Anti-Semitism of the Nazis against the Jews is no way different in ideology and in effect from the Sanatanism of the Hindus against the Untouchables.

The world owes a duty to the Untouchables as it does to all suppressed people to break their shackles and set them free."

1st September 1943                  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in a preface to his book, "Gandhi and                                                                                      the Emancipation of Untouchables"

The state of Bihar is well known for its lawlessness for the past fifty years of Indian independence. But the Indian Government in New Delhi has taken a very lackadaisical attitude. It is the most feudal state.

The incident or December 1, 1997, was neither unexpected nor different from previous ones between the poor Dalits, who are mostly landless laborers, and rich landed high caste. The past fifty years of India's history is full of such incidents.

I know the news reportings keep harping on conflict between Naxalites and private rnilitia of the landlords who are mostly high caste. The most important issue is vast economic disparity between the have and have nots. And until and unless that disparity is removed, the special interest group or groups will continue to exploit, and the victims will be the poor because in an agricultural economy the landlords have money and muscle. Land reform is at the heart of the problem.

In the past four years since the conception of notorious private militia named - Ranvir Sena - according to India Today on December 15, 1997, "Till October there were an unprecedented 614 clashes in which 362 persons lost their lives. In the four months of Rabri Devi's (Chief Minister of Bihar) regime alone, 147 persons have been killed."

Is the Indian Government in New Delhi run by the dope addicts who don't know as to what. the hell is going on in the country or the government does not give a damn? Tyranny is, as India Abroad 12 Dec. 1997 reported, "An intelligence report by the state police had warned the Ranvir Sena could launch an attack when the river level receded. A copy of the report, addressed to the Zonal inspector general of police (T.G.P. ) is in the possession of India Abroad." This is a clear conspiracy of police and the landlord private militia leaders to sacrifice 61 poor Dalits including an 80 year old man and a six month old baby among those butchered. As Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch Asia said, "The fact that the groups responsible continue to operate with impunity makes official law enforcement agencies complicit in these killing."

As India Abroad (Aziz Hanifa, 12 Dec: 1997) reported, a human rights organization in the United States said last week that the Indian government must share responsibility for the massacre of at least 61 lower caste villagers, including 19 children below the age of 10 and 26 women.

The Human Rights Watch urged New Delhi, "to take immediate steps to prevent further violence and investigate and punish those responsible for the attack, including any officials or members of the police who failed to respond to repeated calls for protection for the villagers or to prosecute previous acts of violence."

I appeal to all freedom loving people who believe in the basic tenet of decency to join in this protest rally against the government of India for a show of strength and a condemnation that the Indian Government has been derelict in its duty of maintaining law and order in India, inspite of the fact that the Home Ministry was fully aware of previous incidents on July 11, 1996 in which 20 lower caste and Muslim villagers were brutally slain by notorious Ravin Sena in Bathani Tola.

A memorandum will be submitted to the President of India, Hon. K.R. Narayanan through the Indian Embassy.

MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

Dear President K.R. Narayanan,

The incident of December 1, 1997 in Bihar in the village of Laxmanpur-Bathe in which sixty-one Dalits were slaughtered shocked the entire civilized world. For the beasts it hardly matters.

Mr. President, you are fully aware that in the past fifty years of Indian independence, the Dalits and other religious minorities have been the worst victims of caste and communal violence. As a Dalit, I sometimes wonder if we were safer in white British Raj than our own brown Shib's government. Many people in America tell me, "Oh, there is an untouchable man who is head of India." My response to them is, "Yes, he is Untouchable alright but is not the leader of Untouchables to champion their cause."

If Dr. Ambedkar were alive today, he would have called you A second class Brahmin.

Mr. President let us accept the fact that Dalits are not safe in India. Every hour two Dalits are assaulted, every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits murdered and two Dalit's houses are burnt.

The most distressing has been the silence of the central government in condemning this ghastly incident as if Bihar its not a part of India keeping the above facts in mind, I urge your high office for the following urgent considerations:

1. Dismissal of Rabri Devi (Chief Minister of Bihar) for failure to maintain law and order by invoking article 356. Impose governor's rule and a fresh election and a new government who can protect the weaker section of the society and other religious minorities.

2. C.B.I. Inquiry investigating the role of police in complicity w  the private militia and criminal proceeding against those who directly or indirectly were party to this carnage.

3. Elimination of private militia whether they are Ranvir Sena or Naxalite Sympathizers, there can't be paralled governments and judiciary, central government can't absolve from its responsibilities

4. Land reform plan need some teeth, there has to he political will and wisdom of the central government in New Delhi in the social reformation of the Indian society, otherwise, it will continue to he governed by the Law of the Jungle. In a country where 80 % of the people live in villages, where agricultural economy is the only way of making livelihood then certainly without land reform we are perpetuating the seed of slavery and bloody massacres between the landed classes and the poor who have no spokesman. How long will this blood bath continue? Is the next fifty years going to be glorious or gloomy?

Until and unless the New Delhi, i.e., central government does something radical I see a dark cloud of despair and despondency on the Indian horizon.

Finally, I appeal to your good office to intervene on the most urgent basis otherwise this feudal war will continue to escalate and innocent lives will be lost needlessly. Incidents such as this are a national disgrace.

Thank you for your kind attention.

I remain yours,

THE Vidhan Sabha elections in Bihar witnessed unprecedented violence and the post-poll tension is continuing. It has already taken a toll of more than a dozen lives. At some places, the Dalits continue to be terrorised and victimised by the powerful castes of the respective localities for having dared to challenge their hegemony on polling day.

Ten persons have been killed in violent incidents at two places Harlakhi in Madhubani district and Lakhwar in Jehanabad. Five workers of CPI and CPI(M) were killed and about a dozen injured when the police opened fire at Harlakhi on demonstrators of the two parties on March 20. The party workers were protesting against the rigging of the polls by Congress workers in the Vidhan Sabha election in Harlakhi constituency.

According to the official version, the demonstrators tried to storm into the Harlakhi block omce, forcing the police to open fire. On the other hand, a former CPI MLA stated that the police firing was in retaliation after a confrontation between the demonstrators and officials on March 19, the day before the incident, when the former was staging a protest in front of the Basopatti block omce. He alleged that the police party, led by the DSP, Benipatti, had opened fire without any provocation as the demonstrators were proceeding towards Harlakhi block.

In fact, the continuing nexus between the Congress and the local administration has played important role in the violence; The defeated Congress(l) has engineered these killings in collusion with the local administration, partly to wreak vengeance for its electoral defeat and partly to tarnish the image of the Janata Dal government. That the incident was not just a case of police firing and was a fall-out of the elections was confirmed by chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav who claimed in the Vidhan Sabha on March 23 that medical emnination had shown that the dead and the injured had been hit also by bullets not used by the police, suggesting that the Harlakhi demonstrators had been fired at by others besides the police. The 'others' were the goons of the Congress(l). Yadav also admitted that the local administration had made a mistake by posting the same of finials, against whom the processionists were protesting, to contain the demonstrators.

While the chaos in the Vidhan Sabha over the Harlakhi killings was continuing, Lakhwar village in Jehariabad district hit the newspaper headlines. In a sudden escalation of violence, five persons, stated to be the supporters of CPI, were killed by armed miscreants in the village on March 26. The armed gangsters reportedly shouted 'Ghost Inspector Jindabad' after the operation was over. The local administration tried to advance the customary theories of the killing being the result of 'old enmity' and'gang- war', etc. but the truth came to light very soon. According to eye witnesses, the attackers were in police uniforms and their main target was Nagina Yadav, a worker and CPI supporter, who had fled to save his life after Vidhan Sabha polls. Nagina Yadav had earned the wrath of the Congress(l) nominee, Jagdish Sharma, and his supporters by turning down their request not to support the CPI and instead support the Congress(l). When he remained steadfast in his support to the CPI, he had been threatened with dire consequences and a letter of this effect was sent to him just before the polling on February 27. The villagers and the relatives of the deceased confirmed that Jagdish Sharma had wanted them to vote for him and had threatened them with dire consequences in case they did not.

The identical features of the two massacres in Harlakhi and Lakhwar is the collusion of the Congress(l) and the local administration. The attackers in both the cases were Congress(l) men and their aides in the local administration, the victims were CPI workers and some CPI(M) workers. In both constituencies the Congress(l) nominees, Veena Pandey (Harlakhi) and Jagdish Sharma (Ghost), won over their CPI rivals, R N Pand~y and Shardanand Singh, by margins of 6,020 and 48,740 votes, respectively. In both the cases, local administration officials like DSP of Benipatti, P N Tiwary, and the SP of Jehanabad, V M Diwakar, had been posted by former chief minister Jagannath Mishra in violation of the Election Commission's directives.

Chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav visited the two areas of violence even before the arrival of the local officials and has ordered departmental inquiries against the officials involved in both cases. He ruled out the 'judicial inquiry' demanded by the Congress(l) leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, Jagannath Mishra, and said that the departmental proceedings would be completed within 15 days . and action would be taken thereafter. A senior member of the Board of Revenue, S K Shrivastava, has been appointed for the departmental inquiry into the Harlakhi incident.

Meanwhile, the district magistrate of Madhubani and the block development officer and circle officer of Harlakhi block have been transferred. Orders have also been issued for the arrest of the Congress(l) goons whose names figured in the handbills published by the CPI after the Harlakhi incident. The supe. intendent of police of Jehanabad, V M Diwakar, had also been transferred after the Lakhwar carnage and on his refusal to hand over the charge as' ordered by the director general of police has been put under suspension for disobedience. Besides, 10 of the 22 accused in the Lakhwar carnage case have surrendered in the court of the chief judicial magistrate following attachment of their movable property worth Rs 5 lakh. The process to attach the immovable property of the remaining accused is under way. On the whole, the new government has shown a stern and decisive attitude so far and this is not at all to the liking of the upper caste dominated higher rungs of the bureaucracy.

It appears that the post poll violence will continue to erupt, especially in areas where the nexus between the Congress(l) MLAs and the local administration is intact. Such tension is prevailing in Samastipur, Begusarai and Nalanda, among othe. places. For instance, the Dalits of Chaksako village in Samastipur district are being threatened by the powerful Yadavas of the locality as they had dared to challenge the latter on polling day. Their property and lives are not safe and they live in a state of terror as a result of frequent threats to their lives.

Economic and Political Weekly
Available from M/s. EBS News Agency, 1701 Sector 22s, Chandigarh - 160 022

Amnesty International

Massacre In The Eastern Indian State of Bihar
61 People Killed, Many While in Bed

Rather than protecting citizens against caste-based political killings, the state authorities appear to be colluding with those involved.

3 December 1997

In the aftermath of the largest massacre to take place in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, Amnesty International has today called on the central government to launch a thorough and
impartial investigation and prosecute any officials found to be colluding with the killers.

At least 250 men of the Ranbeer Sena, a private army set up by predominately upper caste landlords, crossed from Bhojpur into neighbouring Jehanabad district across the River Sone and entered two hamlets of Bathe Lakshmanpur village on the night of 1 December. During the next two hours, they slit the throats of five fishermen and then shot dead at least 56 people, many of whom were in their beds. Most of the victims were the families of agricultural labourers from low caste and dalit communities, suspected to have links with left wing Maoist groups active in the state. Eight of the 33 women who were killed were pregnant. Sixteen children were killed.

Rather than protecting citizens against caste-based political killings, the state authorities appear to be colluding with those involved. In this climate of impunity, corruption and failure of the rule of law, we fear that further killings will follow,' Amnesty International said today.

Earlier, on 24 November, members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) CPI (ML-Liberation) had written to the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police, Bhojpur district, informing them that the Ranbeer Sena were holding meetings in three villages, and reportedly plotting an attack in a nearby place. The massacre on 1 December took place in a village on the border of Bhojpur district. Although there is a pattern of
massacres by the Ranbeer Sena in the region, the district administration failed to respond to this call for protection. Allegations are being made that the local police officials colluded in the attack with their caste brethren in the Ranbeer Sena

After the massacre, the state government announced the appointment of a Special Investigating Team to investigate the massacre, in which it is expected that senior police and
administrative officials will be involved. The expected composition of the team raises serious doubts about the impartiality and thoroughness of any investigation. While similar Investigative Teams have been appointed to inquire into previous political killings of this kind, those who planned, carried out or condoned the killings have never been brought to justice.

In response to the massacre, the Home Minister announced that 1,000 paramilitary troops were being sent to the area to conduct combing operations. However, in the absence of a well-functioning state administration, this action risks further human rights violations.

Amnesty International has today written to the central government, urging it to:

• launch an independent and impartial investigation into the massacre, to bring those found responsible to justice and to provide redress to the victims and their families;

• ensure that the scope of such an enquiry includes investigation of all indications of official collusion or acquiescence, including the apparent failure of the judicial
  and police authorities to provide protection, and structural or operational links between the Ranbeer Sena and the state's security forces and civilian authorities;

• take steps to prevent such killings, including the prohibition and disbanding of any paramilitary forces operating outside the chain of command of the security
  forces, but carrying out abuses with official acquiescence;

• implement the recommendations of the National Police Commission, made between 1979 and 1981, as a matter of urgency with a view to ending corrupt practices within the police which contribute to the police colluding in or perpetrating human rights violations

Background

Described by many as a lawless state', Bihar is beset with political scandals, emerging out of the breakdown in the rule of law, and rampant corruption. Chief Minister until 30 July, Laloo
Prasad Yadav is now in detention awaiting trial on corruption charges -- his wife, Rabri Devi, has taken over his post as Chief Minister.

In a recent opinion poll published in India Today on 24 November, Bihar was voted the most corrupt state in the country, scoring 5.8 on a seven point scale, which ranged from perfectly
honest' to entirely corrupt'. In response to a query asking which public service agencies are most corrupt, the police came second only to the category of ministers.

As the governing idiom of politics in Bihar, caste is a dominant factor in the massacres that have been taking place with increasing frequency during recent years. Tensions that arise
between those who are landed and those who work on the land are reflected in caste struggles, as many of those with land are from upper castes, while the agricultural workers are predominately backward castes' or dalits (also know as Scheduled Castes' or by
the term untouchables').

For decades, members of the CPI (ML) groups often described as naxalites and espousing a Maoist ideology, have been organising landless peasants into an armed political movement. This movement is now factionalised, and the victims of the current massacre are reportedly supporters of CPI(ML-Liberation), now an overground organisation, and CPI(ML-Party Unity), an armed political group. Following the massacre on 1 December, members of Party Unity have reportedly threatened reprisal killings.

A climate of impunity prevails in Bihar. The Ranbeer Sena, also known as the Ranbeer Kisan Maha Sangh, was formed in 1995 in Bhojpur in response to the increasing politicization of landless agricultural workers. Since then it has reportedly perpetrated a number of massacres. Despite the outcry that followed the Bathani tola (hamlet) massacre on 11 July 1996, when 19 women and children were killed by the Ranbeer Sena, reports indicate that none of the culprits have been brought to book. On the day of the attack, no police from any of the three police camps within a 1.5 kilometre radius of the tola, intervened to prevent the killings. It is not known whether officials of the state police have been held accountable for their failure to effectively protect the victims.