The Hindu : Govt. to 'test' POTA on crimes against Dalits

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Friday, Jul 18, 2003

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Govt. to 'test' POTA on crimes against Dalits

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI JULY 17 . The Maharashtra's Progressive Democratic Front today referring to the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray's exhortation that the Dalit issue should not be `politicised', said that in at least one of the several cases of atrocities on Dalits, it would test the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

Though the Protection of Civil Rights Act was available, POTA covers acts of "sectoral terrorism", the Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal announced here on Wednesday, even as the Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, said he preferred to be part of a "casteless society", though often described as "a Dalit Chief Minister".

Mr. Bhujbal said a case would be identified for application of the POTA provisions "to see if it works".A few days back, Mr. Shinde had said in the Assembly that he was pained at the instances of atrocities against Dalits in the State.

On Tuesday, he told his coalition MLAs that if his being a Dalit Chief Minister were the cause for the "hurt" being inflicted on innocent Dalits, he would not hesitate to step down and wanted to see if the provisions of the Maharashtra Organised Crime Control Act or POTA could check it.The concerted moves by Mr. Bhujbal and Mr. Shinde in the Assembly was a bid to thwart the Opposition from playing the Dalit card, though crimes against the Dalits are a disconcerting development in Maharashtra now.Together, they drew the attention of the Opposition, which swears by Mr. Thackeray, to a recent editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna edited by the supremo, that the political parties should not capitalise on the Dalit issue and it should be dealt apolitically with sensitivity. Mr. Bhujbal asked the Opposition to heed this advice and read out several lines of the editorial and said, "I hope you read it ... . You follow it and so will I," which caught the Opposition by surprise since they scarcely expected the two to quote Mr. Thackeray.The announcement of plans to "test" POTA on crimes against Dalits came in the wake of a long-winding debate on atrocities on the Dalits initiated by the Opposition, which listed 27 cases.

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