INDIA: Dalit activist brutally attacked

Eva Cheng

On January 5, Bant Singh, a Dalit (low-caste) activist from the Mansa district of Punjab, was brutally attacked by seven thugs. It is believed that the attackers were sent by the local village head in revenge for Singh's five-year pursuit of justice for his daughter Baljit Kaur, who was gang-raped in 2002.

Singh's and his daughter's persistence eventually resulted in a Mansa court sentencing three of the rapists to life in prison.

Following the attack on Singh, hospital staff, demanding bribes, delayed treating him for 36 hours, which contributed to the need for two of Singh's hands and one of his legs to be amputated. Singh's remaining leg turned gangrenous and may also have to be removed. Due to excessive bleeding, Singh has also suffered kidney failure.

Singh, a 40-year-old father of eight, is the only bread-winner of his family and an activist with the All India Agarian Labour Association.

Thousands of agricultural labourers and poor peasants in Mansa protested in solidarity with Singh on January 16, followed by a bigger strike later that month involving some neighbouring districts. A solidarity protest is being organised in London in early March.

The January 17-23 edition of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist Liberation)'s ML Update said Singh's attackers "owe their allegiance to the ruling Congress. The attack was aimed at teaching a lesson to the dalits and to curb the struggle of agricultural labourers against the atrocities of the rural rich and politically influential people of the village."

[To sign a petition protesting the attack on Singh, visit <http://new.petitiononline.com/Bant06/petition.html>.]

From Green Left Weekly, March 8, 2006.

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From GLW issue 659