By Pritam Singh Tinna, Twocircles.net
As the Dalit struggle in village Jalloor continues in Sangrur district over land dispute, another such case of a similar struggle is emerging from Phillaur, Jallandhar.
In Muthada, various Ambedkarite organisations along with the BSP are protesting outside the office of DSP, Phillaur, for speedy trial in a number of cases, including one that dates back to March from the village of Muthada. Despite the fact that the case was registered under the The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, no arrests have yet been made.
Speaking about the Muthada incident, Kanti Bona, the village sarpanch who belongs to the BSP, said, “On the night of April 19, 2016, my house was attacked by upper caste Akali Dal goons. They even fired bullets, but thankfully no one was injured.”
When asked about the reason of the attack, he said “In February this year, after a long protest, we had finally managed to free 4 acres of Panchayat land which had under the occupation of Akali dal members. This angered them, and they attacked my house.”
Confirming the attack, the President of Ambedkar Sena said, “FIR 73/16 has been registered against 24 upper caste Akali dal members, but there have been no arrests yet.”
Avtar Singh Karimpuri, who is the ex president of BSP and the Phillaur candidate for the upcoming elections, said, “We have been protesting outside the DSP office Phillaur for the speedy trial of few cases including the one in Muthada, and the protests have now been going on for almost three weeks.”
Talking about the other cases, Kanti Bona said, “The second case is from the village of Kot vihar, where a false FIR under section 326 of the IPC has been registered against the husband of the sarpanch and his friend. The third case is from Village Raho, where the wife of Punjab IG Ranveer Singh harassed and threatened her creditor who was from the Schedule caste and later committed suicide.”