Chandigarh: Twenty-three people, including a former sarpanch, have been booked for allegedly socially boycotting Scheduled Caste members of Chhatar village in Jind’s Uchana sub-division, police said on Thursday.
Some Dalit families from the village alleged that the members of a dominant caste gave a call for their social boycott to build pressure on them to withdraw a case against a member of their community.>
They said that three weeks ago, some upper-caste youths beat up a Dalit youth over some argument related to a Kabbadi match in the village.
Police said they arrested a person after filing a case under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on the victim’s complaint.>
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The families claimed that the call was given after some upper-caste people called a panchayat recently and added that they were not able to get essential items or go to their fields due to the alleged boycott. About 150-200 Dalit families live in the village.>
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jitendra Kumar said that on the basis of a complaint, a case was registered against 23 people, including a former sarpanch, under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly boycotting the Dalits.>
The DSP said the administration is continuously monitoring the situation in the village to maintain social harmony.>
Dinesh, a social worker, has written a complaint to the chief minister and demanded action in the matter.
A Dalit youth from the village said that if the social boycott continues they would be compelled to shift somewhere else.>
(PTI)>