Dalit issue stirs Maha Assembly

Nagpur (Maharashtra): Already under fire from Dalit organisations and Opposition over the Khairlanji Dalit killings, the Maharashtra government is now left red-faced after the report on alleged cover up and corruption involved in the case.

The opening session of Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur on Monday was adjourned for twenty minutes amid noisy scenes by Opposition members, demanding discussion on the killings of members of a Dalit family allegedly by non-Dalits at Khairlanji village.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil had to announce that a special commission will be set up in the next 15-days to look into problems of Dalits in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile Congress President Sonia Gandhi also joined the chorus of protesting voices by calling Khairlanji Dalit killings a terrible tragedy. The Congress President expressed displeasure over the deteriorating law and order situation in Maharashtra and the manner in which Khairlanji case was handled.

"All of us rather than fighting and demonstrating should work to see that such tragedies don't take place," said Gandhi on Monday.

The report on Dalit killings not just damns the lack of action by police and alleges corruption charges, but it also has the weight of Social justice ministry behind it. The report slams the post mortem reports as being fabricated in the Khairlanji killings case.

Cops sacked for Dalit killings

Maharashtra government announced the dismissal of five policemen, including an Sub Divisional police officer, for dereliction of duty in connection with the killings of four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village in Bhandara district in September.

The report described the September 29 killings of four Dalits of a family, including two women, at Khairlanji in Bhandara district an ‘organised conspiracy'.

Joshi demands CBI probe

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi demanded a CBI probe into the vandalisation of B R Ambedkar`s statue in Maharshtra which sparked off violent protests in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Terming the desecration as 'unfortunate', he alleged the local administration and police were hand-in-glove with the ruling Samajwadi Party and thus could not be expected to conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter.

Turning his attention to the coming assembly polls, the former Union Minister demanded that President`s rule be imposed in the state since elections under the Mulayam Singh government were bound to be skewed in his party`s favour.

With PTI inputs

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