By Muslim Mirror Staff

As many as 32 Ambedkarite student organisations from campuses across the countries have decided to form a Joint Action Council (JAC) to demand justice for the Hathras gang-rape victim and coordinate their efforts in the ‘struggle against the caste violence perpetuated by Savarnas on Dalit bodies.’

The JAC has called for a nationwide protest against atrocities on Dalits on 10 October.

In a statement released on Monday, the JAC talked about the history of atrocities being committed on the victim’s family by upper caste people apart from highlighting injustices faced by Dalits in general.

“The victim was being harassed by the Thakur rapists for a long time, and there has been a history of atrocities being committed on the victim’s family by the rapists’ families. After battling her grave injuries, the victim died 15 days later, at Safdarjung Hospital. If the atrocities committed by the rapist-murderers were not enough, the State government led by Ajay Singh Bisht, also known as Yogi Adityanath, made sure that the victim was not given even a shred of justice. The accused were not arrested for 10 days, even after the crime was reported, and they were taken into custody only after massive public outrage by Dalits,” the statement read.

The JAC added that the police secretly took her body out of the Safdarjung hospital in New Delhi and brought her body to her village in Hathras in the middle of the night. When the body reached her village, the victim’s mother cried and wailed on the bonnet of the ambulance, begging that her daughter’s body be handed over to the family so that they could take her home for one last time. But the police and the administration did not listen. Instead of giving her body to her grieving family members, the monstrous district administration forcefully cremated her.

The organisation has put forward 10 following demands.

• Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath must resign immediately
• District Magistrate, Hathras, Praveen Kumar Laxkar and Superintendent of Police, Hathras, Vikrant Vir must be terminated from service immediately
• Charges of SC/ST Atrocities Act must be pressed and action must be taken against District Magistrate, Hathras, Praveen Kumar Laxkar, Superintendent of Police, Hathras, Vikrant Vir, and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Singh Bisht
• Withdraw the NARCO test announced by the Ajay Bisht government on the victim’s family members
• Supreme Court-monitored investigation with the majority of representatives from the Scheduled Caste community, to be conducted
• An enquiry committee must be set up to investigate the Doctors involved in the case and those involved in the post-mortem of the deceased
• Land should be provided to the victim’s family, and the family members should be ensured government jobs
• Complete protection and security should be ensured by the government until the time the family is no longer susceptible to threats by the Thakurs of the village, or for lifetime, whichever comes first
• Fast-track courts for redressal of SC/ST atrocities must be set up and made functional in all districts of India
• Reservation for Dalits in Media, with priority to Dalit women

The organisations that have come together to form the JAC include Ambedkar Students’ Association from CUK, Kerala, HCU, Telangana. Maharashtra, Pondicherry University, Punjab University, TISS, IIT Bombay, FC Pune, the Bahujan Collective from TISS, Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association from Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, JNU and West Bengal. North East Collective, IIT Bombay, North East Forum from JNU among several others.