Acting firmly on the story carried by The Hindu on July 20 about a Dalit youth who lost his legs after being assaulted and tied to a railway track in a village in the Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary and the Ghaziabad District Magistrate, seeking reports on the action taken in the incident.
The Commission sought information from the two officials on the action taken against the accused involved in the attack on Tika Ram (22) and an earlier attack on Jatavs in Ramgarh village. The government has also been asked to get back to the Commission with information on the compensation, if any, it proposed to pay Tika Ram, under the provisions of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Tika Ram was allegedly beaten up by members of the Gujjar community and tied to the railway tracks. He suffered grievous injuries as a train ran over his legs.
The attack on him was directly related to a dispute over 4.75 bighas of panchayat land allocated to 60 Jatav families by the State government. The land has been allegedly occupied by the gram pradhan. The Constitution mandates the allocation of a fixed share of panchayat land in every village to Dalit families for building houses or cattle sheds . The government had even issued pattas (title deeds) for the land in 1982. But the Gujjars built a seven-foot-high wall around the land last December, restricting the movement of the Jatavs in their own land.
The news report stated that on March 14 this year, Gujjars went to the Dalit colony on the the village periphery, armed with sticks, country-made pistols and axes, and beat up its residents in broad daylight, severely injuring many.
During the rampage, which lasted more than three hours, they did not even spare women and children.
Tika Ram, who was admitted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences , had both his legs amputated .
