Miffed by allegations of atrocities against Dalits, Congress MLA Pana Chand Meghwal resigned on Monday, telling Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot that he does not have the right to remain an MLA if he cannot protect the rights of his community.
The news comes just two days after the death of a Dalit boy in Jalore who was allegedly beaten by a schoolteacher for touching a drinking water pot.
“We have no right to remain on the post if we fail to protect the rights of our community. I resign as MLA after listening to my inner voice, so that I can serve the community without a position “The MLA from the Baran-Atru constituency announced his resignation in a letter.
MLA Pana Chand Meghwal stated that, despite the country’s 75th anniversary of independence, atrocities against Dalits and other deprived classes continue.
Looking at the atrocities makes me sad. “I cannot express my anguish at the way my community is being tortured in words,” he said.
Dalits are being murdered for drinking from a pot, growing a moustache, or riding a mare at a wedding. The legal system is paralysed, and case files are passed from one table to the next. Cases of atrocities against Dalits have increased in recent years. According to him, there appears to be no one to protect Dalit rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The police file the final report in the majority of Dalit cases. “I have raised such cases many times in the state assembly, but the police have never taken action,”MLA Pana Chand Meghwal lamented.
Meanwhile, the state’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa arrived in Jalore on Monday to investigate the death of the boy who was beaten by his teacher.
On July 20, Indra Kumar, 9, was beaten up at school. On Saturday, he died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Chail Singh, the accused teacher, was arrested. The state government has announced a 5 lakh relief for the victim’s family.
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