No food for Muslims forced out of village after threats from Hindus ‘No outrage as their votes don’t matter’
Forced to leave their village in western Rajasthan following alleged threats from upper caste Hindu villagers, about 20 Muslim families are now staring at another crisis.
The district administration, which arranged a temporary shelter for them in Jaisalmer, has failed to provide them food for last two days. Lack of facilities at the shelter has left them, especially women and children, in the lurch.
Around 150 members of these 20 families do not want to return to their homes in Dantal, around 700 kms from Jaipur. They have urged the district administration to shift them to another safer location.
The families left their village following a string of events that began with the killing of a Muslim folk singer, allegedly by a Hindu priest and his brothers. The priest, Ramesh Suthar, who is a traditional occultist, has been arrested on charges of while his brothers are absconding.
Suthar is accused of killing 45-year-old Aamad Khan for his “poor singing” during a Navratri function at the village temple on September 27. Khan’s body was found outside his house the next day. The Rajputs allegedly threatened Khan’s family against going to police to report the killing. Khan’s family quietly buried the body.
However, after their relatives from nearby village came and assured them of help, Khan’s family lodged a case against Suthar and his two brothers.
Meanwhile, 20 families of Muslim folk singers, including Khan’s, left the village following alleged threat from the Rajputs and took shelter at nearby Balad village.
On Monday, some of them met Jaisalmer district collector (DC) KC Meena, who assured them of help and put them up in a temporary shelter run by the municipal council for the homeless people. The DC asked the civic body to arrange food for them.
“We are managing food for us through our local resources. The administration has made no arrangement,” said Tareef Khan. “However, we cannot mop up resources for long,” he said.
Jaisalmer municipal council commissioner Jabar Singh said they didn’t have budget for providing food to the displaced families. “We gave them food on Monday but we cannot give them food everyday due to lack of funds,” he added.
Meena wasn’t aware about the condition of the families at the shelter. He said he will need to check if the families have returned to the village or not.
The district collector also sent a sub-divisional officer to Dantal to ease the tension in the village so that the Muslims could return home. “We are talking to both sides and have assured the Muslims of their safety on their return to Dantal,” the DC said.
A fortnight after a Muslim folk singer was murdered in a Rajasthan village, the exodus of several families of that community from the area has invited severe criticism from the civil society.
“What is the administration doing? A whole community of 200 people had to move out of the village to exile,” People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said in a statement.
Kavita Srivastava, Rajasthan president of PUCL said: “The kind of lawlessness in the state, such brutal aggression by dominant castes; lynching of an untouchable by the dominant castes and other castes actively supporting the killers as he is a ojha (faith healer) is deplorable.”
“They keep quiet on the murder, then follow it up with threats, that we will kill a few more, especially when the manganiyars challenged it has to be condemned in no uncertain terms.”
Srivastava said: “They are an already impoverished community. Despite being the nation’s
IN THE LURCH Jaisalmer municipal commissioner says they don’t have budget to provide food to displaced families BARMER:
We are managing food for us through our local resources. The administration has made no arrangement
TAREEF KHAN, a displaced villager JAIPUR:
raped,” he added.
Satyarthi also spoke about the slow delivery of justice and said that even if the cases being registered under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) were to stop, the disposal of cases at the present rate in some states of the country would take as long as 58 years.
He reiterated the need for exclusive courts in each districts for speedy dispensation of justice in cases of offence against children. The Union home minister is working on a draft bill for prevention of child trafficking, he said. Furthermore, Satyarthi voiced the demand for a greater share of GDP to spend on children, up from the current figure of 3.5%.
Son of a policeman, Satyarthi urged the policemen to become friendly and amiable towards children so that kids would themselves come to them and tell them if they are being abused.
Rajeev Dasot, the director of RPA, said that Satyarthi’s visit will infuse new vigour into the police force to fight crimes against children and work for the protection of their rights.
Earlier, Satyarthi addressed a session on ‘Increasing awareness on the dangers of sexual abuse’ at the DAV Centenary Public School in Jaipur. The session was attended by more than 10,000 school children. heritage for their incredible music, they are not given support and often end up as labourers in the city.”
“The Vasundhara Raje government is not interested in them... Manganiyar votes don’t matter but Rajput, Charan, Meghwal and Suthar votes matter so she is not even saying anything,” she said.
Bypolls for Lok Sabha seats in Ajmer and Alwar are due after the deaths of the sitting MPs.
“The administration should restrain those who are threatening the manganiyars. File criminal cases against them. And immediately restore them back into their village,” she said.
SATYARTHI SAID EARLIER THE AVERAGE AGE OF RAPE VICTIMS WAS 1516, BUT IN LAST 12 YEARS THE AVERAGE HAS COME DOWN TO 67 YEARS