[ZESTCaste] Madiga Dandora demands action

[Siddhartha Kumar]

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/10/stories/2010031058840300.htm

Karnataka - Hassan

Madiga Dandora demands action

Staff Correspondent

All's not fair:Madiga Dandora activists taking out a rally in Hassan
on Tuesday in protest against the assault on Bhagyamma in Chitradurga
and demanding justice for her.

HASSAN: Activists from the Madiga Dandora led by district president
T.R. Vijaya Kumar demanded action against the people who stripped and
paraded a Dalit couple on January 17 in Lakshmisagara village in
Chitradurga district and the officers who reportedly misled the
Government.

In a memorandum addressed to the Governor and submitted to the Deputy
Commissioner, the activists said that in Lakshmisagara village, a
Dalit boy and a girl belonging to the Valmiki community had eloped and
left the village.

Village residents blamed Bhagyamma, a Dalit woman, for their elopement
and assaulted her and her husband, Sukhananda, before stripping and
parading them in the village. They were also reportedly taken to the
police station, where they were threatened by the local police
sub-inspector.

They also demanded a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for Bhagyamma and her
family, the arrest of the assaulters and action against those who
allegedly tried to hush up the case.