The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Pourakarmika Sangha will be holding a black band protest on Tuesday to express solidarity with the family of the 20-year-old girl from Hathras who was allegedly gang-raped and murdered.
In a press release on Monday, the Sangha said the protest was against the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh government and police have been handling the case.
Nirmala, Sangha president, has said the case was another reminder of the “structural caste-based violence, sexual, physical and mental torture” that Dalits, especially women, are subjected to across the country. Dalit pourakarmikas in Karnataka continue to struggle for basic rights, starting from minimum wages to regularisation of services, apart from lack of access to drinking water and toilets. They face physical, sexual and verbal abuse at the hands of contractors, their henchmen, and supervisors of urban local bodies, Ms. Nirmala alleged.
Demanding the resignation of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Sangha has also demanded immediate suspension of the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police, and punishment to the perpetrators of the Hathras atrocity, including the accused, police and government officials.
