'In response to the increasing incidents of violence directed particularly towards marginalised groups, a yatra was undertaken by the Rahtriya Ekta Manch on June 27 and 28, 2014. Rashtriya Ekta Manch's constituent organizations include Maulana Azad Vichar Manch, Mahila Vikas Kendra, Satyashodhak Vidyarthi Sanghatana, RPI, Sambhaji Brigade, Maratha Mahasangh and others. All India Secular Forum also joined the yatra.
"...Thirty two per cent of Punjab's population is Dalit, the highest proportion in the country, and inter-caste friction is often sparked by rival claims to village resources. Yet, activists say, most violence slips beneath the radar until the conflict spirals out of control; in part, because the police are reluctant to register complaints under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.
'For two families whose teen daughters were raped before being hanged alive, more challenges lie in store than coping with their over-whelming grief. The CBI, which is investigating the double murder in the Badaun district in central Uttar Pradesh, wants the relatives of the victims, who were cousins, to go through lie detector tests...
'Every morning Nilanjana Roy, the Indian novelist, goes through the same routine in her New Delhi apartment: a few minutes of yoga and meditation, before turning on some Hindustani classical music to drown out the sounds of the traffic, flipping open her laptop, and refreshing Twitter. Roy has 100,000 followers; today there are 300 replies. The first one sets the tone: "You hole who should be raped by a bamboo lathi."..
"Today is the third International Domestic Workers’ Day. In India, official figures show that there are 4.75 million domestic workers, out of whom three million are women in urban areas. These are contentious figures; perhaps a grave underrepresentation. The actual number is probably closer to 90 million. Therefore, the discourse on ensuring the dignity and the rights for domestic workers has to become far more nuanced than it has been till now.
"There has been a steep rise in the number of atrocity cases in Maharashtra. Khairlanji in 2006, Kharda on 28th April 2014 in Ahmednagar district where a Dalit boy Nitin Aage (17) was killed by dominant castes, Manoj Kasab a Sarpanch from Matang (third largest in population among the Scheduled Castes in the state) community was again killed by dominant castes.
"Already in news for allegedly organizing a boycott of dalits, upper caste community of Baupur village in Sangrur district had announced that penalty of Rs 21,000 would be imposed in case any member interacted with a dalit in the village, revealed a draft report of an independent fact finding team which visited the village last month. The upper caste villagers boycotted dalits last month, after members of the lower caste community demanded one-third of village common agriculture land on rent.
'Some 90 Dalit families from Bhagana, including those of the rape survivors, have been protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since April 16, with 120 others at Hisar’s Mini Secretariat... On 4 June, around 6 am, when most protesters were asleep, a large posse of policemen descended upon Jantar Mantar and pulled down their tents. They forcibly removed them and warned to vacate the place by 12 noon. At Hissar’s mini secretariat too they were evicted in similar manner. At both the places the police scattered and damaged their belongings.
"Inaction, Negligence and Shielding of Accused by District Administration – Says Fact Finding Team Report
June 10, Chhindwara / New Delhi : On 13th April 2014, a 15 year old mute and handicapped adivasi girl was kidnapped and gang-raped, but for more than one and a half months, no action has been taken by the district administration or support of any kind reached the rape survivor. Inaction by the district authorities, police blaming the survivor and her family for the incident and complete suppression of the case and little support from media has not helped the situation.
"Twenty two years ago, in Bhateri village in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Bhanwari Devi was gang-raped by five men. The reason was neither lust nor just patriarchy. Devi’s fault was that as a lower-caste woman, she had dared to transgress the age old strictures of caste - by protesting against the practice of child marriage, which was a staple among the upper-castes. Hence, he was meted out a "deserving punishment".
