Dalit community demand fair treatment by Indian army, says ex-gratia insufficient

The Dalit community has demanded fair treatment by the Indian army in awarding ex-gratia to the SC victims in militant attacks. The community said that the army doesn't treat out people equally when they are alive, atleast after deaths they should be fairly taken.

For the unversed, two Dalit people were killed outside an army camp located in Rajouri, Jammu. The Lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha had announced 6 lacs for the deceased family and government jobs for the families.

In a later incident, 6 people were killed in a village, 7kms away from Rajouri.

The Lieutenant governor announced Rs 10 lakh for the families of each deceased and government jobs for their kin as ex-gratia.

This unequal grant of compensation triggered a resentment among the Jammu-based Dalit community even leading to a protest.

"The death cannot be compensated, the LG regretted over deaths and we also offer our tributes to all the people who lost their lives. You don’t treat people as equals in their lives but at least treat them as equals after death. Rs 10 lakh and jobs for those killed by terrorists at Dhangri (in Rajouri) but only Rs 5 lakh for SCs (Scheduled Castes) killed in Rajouri,”

R.K. Kalsotra, state president of the All India Confederation of SC, ST and OBC Organisations said in a tweet.

Surinder Kumar and Kamal Kishore were killed on Dec 16 near a military camp at Rajouri. The army reasoned militants behind the killings while the villagers accused the army responsible for the deaths. The government ordered an investigation into the incident.

Over a fortnight later, militants killed six children while leaving two children injured along with several others in the Dhangri village. The six who died on the new year’s day attack were Vihan Sharma, Satish Kumar, Samiksha Sharma, Deepak Kumar, Pritam Lal and Shishu Pal. Dheeraj Kumar, the Sarpanch of Dhangri village said most of the victims were relatives and were Brahmins. The Lieutenant governor had soon after the deaths visited the village and announced Rs 10 lakh as ex gratia and and jobs to the kin of each victims.

“The two villages are just 7km apart. They are discriminating between the victims on the basis of castes. In our case, we were asked to claim the bodies for cremation after the announcement of a mere 1 lakh for each deceased while the LG announced Rs 5 lakh for the others." Koshal Vishwa, brother of Surinder, told media.

The families of the victims refused to bury the bodies until government come to terms with their demands. The Dalit families demanded further investigation into the killings while the villagers in Dhangri asked for increased security in the area.

Vishwa said the announcement of jobs was made by the deputy commissioner of police in their case, not by LG. “We received the compensation amount which was announced but not the jobs. There is no news of the jobs. In the Dhangri incident, LG Sahab himself made the announcement for the job and money."

He further added that the family stood by the belief both the victims were killed by the army. Whereas the government ordered an investigation, nothing is made public. They are not sharing any information or updates with us not even the CCTV footage which makes the entire incident more suspicious.

Kalsotra, the confederation leader said the organization has raised the demand of treating the Dalit martyrs on a par with 'martyrs of the army' last month and sought Rs 1 crore compensation for each family. “Both were from extremely poor families. We are deeply saddened by all deaths and the families who lost their loved ones,” he said. Rajouri deputy commissioner Vikas Kundal did not respond to calls or text messages and hence was not available for a comment.