Andhra Pradesh Dalit Mahasabha is contemplating to make Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy a party in the case relating to killing of Dalits in Lakshmipet village of Vangara mandal in Srikakulam district if the government fails to act on its demands within a week.
The Mahasabha is demanding that the government order a CBI probe into the case besides, constituting a special court in the village for expeditious trial of the case. “Complaints can be lodged and the Chief Minister too can be brought under the purview of SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for neglect of Dalits,” Mahasabha founder general secretary K. Padma Rao said.
He said questions were being raised against the hesitation of the Chief Minister in ordering a thorough probe into the incident. He had failed to take steps to protect the witnesses in spite of requests from his Cabinet colleagues J. Geetha Reddy, D. Manikya Varaprasad, Kondru Murali and S. Sailajanath. “It is now up to the Chief Minister to take stringent action against the guilty and prove his credentials,” he said.
‘Politically-sponsored’
Balladeer Gaddar said the incident was a ‘well-organised and politically-sponsored murder’ of Dalits, who were struggling to protect their rights on the land. “It is a State-sponsored attack and perpetrators of violence should be dealt with firmly,” he said. The inaction on part of the government to check the “white terror” could manifest in the form of violent incidents in some more villages that were vulnerable to such attacks. The Dalit Mahasabha would hold a dharna in the State capital on July 17 and approach Dalit MPs to raise the issue in Parliament. Justifying the demand for a CBI probe, Padma Rao alleged that Vasudeva Naidu, was the chief planner of the attack but there was no clarity as to where he was lodged after the police apprehended him.
