Maharashtra Dalit killings: NGO to stage protest tomorrow

Noted personalities like Nana Patekar, Amol Palekar, theatre and film director Jabbar Patel are likely to participate

A city-based NGO will stage a protest here tomorrow against the recent killings of Dalits at a village in Maharashtra.

Noted personalities like Nana Patekar, Amol Palekar, theatre and film director Jabbar Patel, film producer N Chandra and singer Faiyyaz are likely to participate in the protest which will be organised at the Shivaji Park here.

"Atrocities against Dalits and tribals have increased over a period of time. The conviction rate is only 5.5% and many of them are living under tremendous fear. The protest is to show solidarity towards the society and the backward class people who are still not getting justice," Congress MP Husain Dalwai, who runs the NGO, told reporters here late last evening.

Describing the Indian society as a multi-cultured fabric, Dalwai said efforts should be made to keep all the communities united.

"However, the dalits, women and tribals are deprived of their constitutional rights on several occasions and they are facing a lot of challenges even after 65 years of independence," he lamented.

Dalwai condemned the brutal murder of three members of a Dalit family at Javkheda village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district last month and also the earlier killings of people from the community at Khairlanji, Sonai and Kharda villages in the state.

He demanded that the government should take immediate steps to arrest the culprits in all these cases.

The Congress leader also demanded appointment of a panel to probe such matters and a separate committee under a judge for the protection of the victims.