Reinvestigate Khairlanji case, demand Dalit ministers
Dharmendra Jore, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, August 05, 2010First Published: 00:42 IST(5/8/2010)
Last Updated: 00:43 IST(5/8/2010)
Cabinet ministers from backward castes have demanded that the
Khairlanji mass murder case be reinvestigated. On Wednesday, the
ministers said the Cabinet must discuss why the six convicts, whose
death penalty was reduced to life sentence by the high court last
month, were not tried under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Four Dalits Surekha Bhotmange (40) and her three children — Priyanka
(18), Sudhir (21) and Roshan (20) —were killed by a mob of upper caste
Hindus in Khairlanji, near Nagpur on September 29, 2006.
"If the Cabinet can discuss James Laine's controversial book on
Shivaji and the Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue, why not
Khairlanji?" Nitin Raut, dairy development and animal husbandry
minister, asked Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the meeting.
Chavan, however, decided to discuss the matter after the Cabinet meeting.
He spoke to a group of senior ministers in the room next to the
Cabinet hall but some prominent non-Dalit leaders ignored his call.
This infuriated the Dalit ministers further.
Chavan was not available for comment.
Raut, his colleagues from the Congress, Varsha Gaikwad and Ramesh
Bagwe, and NCP's Laxman Dhoble demanded that the state seek the
Centre' permission to reinvestigate the case that the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI) had probed.
"The Dalit population feels unsafe in this state. It wants the state
to use the Atrocities Act effectively," Raut told journalists after
the meeting.
"We have all evidence to prove atrocities against the Dalit family."
Raut said Chavan has promised to convene a meeting to prepare a strong
case later this week. "The CM has said we will meet the Prime Minister
so that he can tell the CBI to reopen the case."
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