The Hindu : Judicial inquiry sought into Dalit killings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 23, 2002

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Judicial inquiry sought into Dalit killings

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 22. The World Council of Arya Samaj today demanded that the Centre institute a judicial inquiry under a sitting Supreme Court judge into the alleged lynching of five Dalit youths in Jhajjar district in Haryana on October 16.

In a statement here, Swami Agnivesh, working president of the council, said the Government should ensure that the culprits are punished in an exemplary fashion. "Immunity to acts of crime, perpetrated in the name of Hinduism, is a shame and disservice to this glorious faith,'' he said calling upon people to oppose communal and criminal outfits that were attempting to "hijack" India to pre-historic times.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal needed to be condemned as they were letting loose a wave of terror against citizens and their leaders deemed themselves to be above the law of the land.

"For centuries, the custodians of upper caste domination have deemed the life of Dalits to be cheap and dispensable. They continue to resist the basic democratic norm of equality of all in the eye of law. The conspiracy to cover up the criminality resulting from it by communal sentiments is utterly irreligious. Religion is a mandate to imbibe compassion and practice justice; and not a license to lynch,'' Swami Agnivesh said.

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