April 2, 2018 : Five persons were killed in Madhya Pradesh and one person each died in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as Dalit groups staged violent protests across north India on Monday against a Supreme Court judgment they claimed diluted protections available to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
The Supreme Court had ruled on March 20 that the anti-atrocities law, which protects SCs/STs against caste discrimination, had become an instrument to blackmail innocent citizens, and had issued a slew of guidelines against arbitrary arrests.
Deeply pained: Rajnath
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was “deeply pained” by the loss of lives during the protests and reiterated that the Centre was committed to ensuring the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
“Four people, two each in Gwalior and Bhind districts and one person was killed in Morena district during the violence,” Madhya Pradesh IG (Law and Order) Makarand Deoskar said.
Curfew was clamped in Gwalior and Morena districts while the Army was called out in Morena, a senior police officer said. Those killed were identified as Rakesh Jatav, Deepak Jatav (Gwalior district), Akash Jatav, Mahavir Singh (Bhind district) and youth leader Rohit Pathak (Morena district).
Police firing
A young man was killed in police firing at Khairthal in Rajasthan’s Alwar district as protesters blocked rail and road traffic, vandalised public property and clashed with the police and shopkeepers in many towns.
The man, identified as Pawan Kumar, 25, died when the police opened fire to control a mob, which was allegedly hurling stones at the police station in Khairthal and setting vehicles on fire.
Police reportedly fired in the air to disperse the mob, but Pawan sustained a bullet injury on his head and died.
Protesters thrashed sub-inspector Mahendra Chaudhary in Jodhpur when the police fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob in a market. Mr. Chaudhary was shifted to the intensive care unit of the Mathuradas Mathur Government Hospital, where he is recovering.
