The National Commission for Schedule Castes (NCSC) on Friday issued notices to the Director General of Police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi Police Commissioner, asking them to register an FIR against Union minister VK Singh for his unsavoury “dog remark” on the Dalit killings in Faridabad.
Taking a suo motu cognizance of Singh’s comments, the NCSC has also asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to submit an action taken report within 10 days based on its directive of filing an FIR against Singh. The NCSC is headed by former Congress MP PL Punia.
“Notices have been issued to DGP Uttar Pradesh and SSP Ghaziabad to register an FIR against Singh. They have also been asked to submit an action taken report by November 2,” said Punia on Friday. After an Aam Aadmi Party delegation petitioned the Commission against Singh for his controversial remark, it served a notice to Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi to file an FIR against the Union Minister of State for External Affairs.
“The AAP delegation also came with an application to us saying that it is a matter of atrocities against Dalits. So we have asked Delhi Police Commissioner to file a case under Prevention of Atrocities on Scheduled Castes Act. The FIR will be surely registered against Singh,” said the commission’s vice-chairman Rajkumar Verka. He said there was a “rift” between Dalits and Thakurs in Sunped area for the past one year. The Haryana administration has been asked to identify the policemen who were responsible for providing security to the Dalit families, he added.
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ally Hindustani Awam Morcha’s (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi also criticised Singh’s remark and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate action against him.
Manjhi, a former Bihar chief minister and a prominent Dalit leader, sought “stringent” action for the remark “so that no leader dares to make such a statement on incident of atrocities on Dalits”.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Punia of acting like a Congress spokesperson and also attacked its vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BSP leader Mayawati for shedding “crocodile tears” over the killing of two Dalit children. Under fire over the incident and subsequent dog analogy used by Singh, the BJP fielded its Dalit leader Vijay Sonkar Shastri to deflect criticism and take on Punia over his comments deprecating Singh.
“Punia must explain whether he wants to act like a Congress spokesperson or somebody in a constitutional post. Can he act as a party leader while holding the NCSC chief’s post? We strongly object to his comments. There are talks that the commission under him does not work and Dalits are not getting justice. Can Punia give one example where somebody from the Scheduled Castes has benefited from his work?” asked Shastri while addressing a press conference in Delhi.
Shastri, a former chairman of the commission, nevertheless termed Singh’s dog analogy as “unfortunate” while responding to queries on the Faridabad incident. Mocking Rahul Gandhi on his visit to the victims’ house in Faridabad, Shastri said his “Dalit Prem (love)” has surfaced again.
“People like him visit Dalits, do photo-ops and then forget them. They can do nothing but shed crocodile tears,” he said. Working overtime to wean the crucial Dalit votes in UP off Mayawati, the BJP attacked her for doing nothing for the community in the state when she ruled it and claimed her “sun had set”.
Earlier, in a stern message, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Ministers must be careful while making statements. We cannot get away by saying that the statement was misinterpreted or twisted.” The Home Minister’s snub came a day after VK Singh said that the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog in connection with the killing of two Dalit children in Faridabad, which sparked massive outrage.