Mangalore, Jul 27: Rifts between separate factions of Dalit organisations and leaders in the district came to the fore at the SC/ST monthly grievance meeting held at the office of Commissioner of Police, Mangalore City here on Sunday.
Ramya, a Dalit representative from Ullal, alleged that she was being harassed by police officers including the sub-inspector at Ullal police station from the past four months, citing that a complaint was lodged on her.
She alleged that the sub-inspector had threatened her when she warned of lodging a complaint against him.
On the other hand, two other Dalit representatives alleged that she was helping an elderly Muslim woman in illegally building a house on SC/ST reserve land in Permanur in Ullal, although the latter did not have title deeds to the land.
They alleged that the house was being built without the permission of the local town municipality, on land that was reserved for people belonging to the SC/ST community. The Dalit woman is supporting the illegal construction of the house, even without a title deed for the land. The concerned taluk panchayat has also given eviction notice to the illegal construction, they claimed.
Addressing the grievance meet, Mangalore City police commissioner R Hithendra said that the forum was not meant for civil disputes and land issues, which concerned the Tahsildar or the deputy commissioner.
He urged the gathering to come forward if there were complaints that were criminal in nature.
Several complaints were raised against the misuse of the SC/ST atrocity act, urging the police department to look into the complaint in detail and conduct a probe in such cases.
Another Dalit representative Achyuth pointed that in cases coming under the ambit of SC/ST atrocity act, the initial FIR could be registered by the local police station, but the investigation and preparing the charge-sheet should be undertaken by a police officer of the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
DCP (Law & Order) K V Jagadish and DCP (Crime & Traffic) Vishnuvarshan were present in the meeting.
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