Gujarat: Drop 74 cases against Dalits, activist writes to minister

The rights activist, Kaushik Parmar, in his representation referred to the minister’s statement, saying he was “very happy with the (minister’s) statement” that he would take up the issue of withdrawing the cases with the state Home Department.

“You must be knowing that after the Una flogging incident, around 74 false criminal cases were registered against Dalits… In Amreli, a case of (IPC section) 302 (murder) was filed and Dalits have been made accused.” Kaushik has also listed the district-wise number of cases registered against Dalits during the agitation.

As per the list, five cases were registered in Ahmedabad city, eight in Rajkot, three in Gandhinagar, two in Aravalli, six in Mehsana, 16 in Rajkot rural, three in Morbi, seven in Jamnagar, six in Surendranagar, six in Junagadh, four in Gir-Somnath, two in Botad, two in Amreli and one each in Ahmedabad rural, Sabarkantha, Porbandar and Patan districts.

The representation stated that following the Una incident, 23 Dalits reportedly attempted suicide and one of them, a youth from Dhoraji, also died. The activist has written that a proposal to withdraw such cases be moved to the Home Department.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, the minister said, “ I have been following the issue. I have sought details like number of cases, the kind of charges that were applied. We have to see which cases can be withdrawn and which cannot. But, one thing is sure that we will be making the proposal (before the Home Department) for sure,” he added.

It is to be noted that following the violent Patidar reservation agitation, the Gujarat government had held peace talks with the agitating Patidars. As part of an “agreement”, a number of criminal cases that were registered against Patidars were withdrawn by the government.

Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja had told the Assembly in March this year that of the total 537 criminal cases registered against Patidars, 245 were withdrawn by the state government. The remaining cases were such that the government could not withdraw, citing “technical reasons”.