Condition of Dalits worst in UP: SC panel

In a virtual snub to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has said the state had the "worst track record" across the country in terms of atrocities on Dalits. "Uttar Pradesh continues to be at the top in terms of the number of cases of atrocities against Dalits reported in states across the country. The latest data available with us is for 2006 when the state recorded a whopping 52,827 such cases," Chairman of the Commission Buta Singh told reporters in Allahabad on Thursday. Singh was leading a three-member delegation which visited Kaanti, a remote Dalit-dominated village in the district that has been in the grip of tension for the past one week over the controversial purchase of a piece of land by a retired police personnel. Singh claimed the depressed classes were being driven to the wall in the state "due to an unsympathetic administration which has scant respect for the constitutional provisions made for the weaker sections". The former Union minister, who asserted that his visit here was "totally apolitical", however, took potshots at Chief Minister Mayawati, saying "she apparently has no control over the administration and the police as a result of which her proclaimed commitment to the cause of the Dalits was now under scanner". Strongly condemning the "brutal attack on women, children and old people" in Kaanti on 7th January when an attempt was made to get the land vacated with the help of local police, Singh however maintained that reports of injuries to a number of police personnel in retaliatory violence were "totally false". He also said the suspension of a sub-inspector of police in connection with the violence and the release of 13 Dalits who were arrested for rioting were "an eyewash and an attempt by the administration to hush up the incident". "We have collected all the information available in which we will prepare a report, copies of which will be made available to President Pratibha Patil, the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government for further action," he said. Earlier, the Commission team, flanked by local Congress leaders including UPCC spokesman Javed Ursi and party's city unit chief Chaudhary Jitendra Nath Singh, visited the village and met the aggrieved people. The team was also handed over memoranda by organisations like the All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha and the CPI-ML (New Democracy) demanding adequate action against the guilty officials and proper compensation to those "who had to bear the brunt of police atrocity".

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