National SC panel seeks report from Kerala govt

Move following deaths of Rajesh, Vinayakan

Taking into consideration the rising atrocities against the Scheduled Castes in Kerala, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has sought reports from the State government on the death of Rajesh in Thiruvananthapuram and Vinayakan in Thrissur.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, commission vice-chairman L.Murugan, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, said the State had been directed to file a report in three days.

Compensation

Further, the commission also requested the government to pay a compensation of ₹25 lakh each to the family of the deceased. During his visit, Mr.Murugan visited family members of the deceased in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. He also held a meeting with the Home Secretary, Principal Secretary of SC/ST Affairs, and the State Police Chief to discuss the issue. Noting that over a 1,000 cases of atrocities against SCs, including 120 rape cases, were reported from Kerala over the past one year, he said the commission would hold a meeting here to review the situation in the second week of September.

The focus of the meeting is to review the progress of investigation in such cases and the utilisation of the Victim Welfare Fund.

Conspiracy angle

Meanwhile, the commission urged the police to investigate the alleged conspiracy behind the murder of Rajesh in Thiruvananthapuram.

Mr.Murugan said the family Rajesh told him that people from outside Thiruvananthapuram were part of the murder. The family was facing threats even after the murder.

He also requested the government to take action against the police officer in charge of the region, where the murder took place.