Farmers call for social boycott of Dalits in Mansa village

MANSA: Farmers of Mansa’s Kheeva Dayalu Wala village on Monday gave a call for the social boycott of Dalits . They used the village gurudwara’s public address system to make the announcement and asked the Dalits not to enter their fields.


They also called for severing all ties with Dalits and prevent them from seeking help.

Following this, the Dalits complained to the police to take action under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The rift among the communities arose after six-year-old Harjot Singh, a Dalit, was seriously injured when a bike-borne farmer accidentally hit him.

Police had registered a case against the farmer. Harjot’s father Antu Singh, who works as labourer, demanded financial assistance from the farmer’s family, but was denied. Angry over the demand, farmers had heated exchanges with the Dalits and announced their social boycott. Dalits complained that sarpanch Ghuddar Singh, former sarpanch Major Singh and Avtar Singh and panchayat member Buta Singh were at the forefront of the social boycott call and had threatened them too.

Retired IAS officer S R Ladhar said strict action needed to be taken against those who gave the boycott call against Dalits as it was intolerable. Ladhar runs an organization working for welfare of Dalits.

When contacted, Mansa SSP Narendra Bhargav said legal action was being taken in the case as both parties had sat together to resolve the issue. “If the matter is not resolved, then a case under the SC/ST Act will be registered,” he said.