Demanding a burial ground, several Dalits staged a protest with a dead body at the Nittur gram panchayat office in Gubbi taluk on Monday.
The members of Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samiti took the body of 60-year-old Huchchrangappa of Nittur village, who died on Monday morning, to the gram panchayat office. They claimed that a two-and-half acre land near A.K. Colony had been encroached. They said that they would bury the body on the gram panchayat office premises if the authorities fail to clear the encroachment on the burial ground.
For the past 10 years, the Dalits do not have a burial ground and several protests demanding one have not yielded any results, said N.E. Nagabhushan, member of KDSS. He added that Dalits have been burying their kin in their lands. Huchchranngappa, however, had no land and hence there was no space to bury his body.
District convenor Nittur Rangaswamy told The Hindu that the authorities had assured the Dalits two acres of land outside the village for the burial ground. “We have refused it. To get to the land, we will have to pass through the village. When we are not allowed in temples, will the villagers allow us to pass through village with a corpse?” he asked.
Later, Grade-2 Tahsildar Gubbi Mohan Kumar assured the protestors that the encroachment on the two-and-half acre land would be cleared within 15 days. He also said that he would arrange for the burial of Huchchrangappa.
