News Analysis India

Tag: casteist slur

  • Woman claiming to be Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde’s 2nd wife sent to jail for casteist slurs

    By PTI

    BEED: Karuna Sharma, who claims to be the second wife of Maharashtra NCP minister Dhananjay Munde and arrested by the police for allegedly hurling casteist abuses at a woman and on other charges, was on Monday produced before a Beed district court which sent her to 14-day judicial custody.

    Sharma, along with a man accompanying her, Arun More, was arrested on Sunday and booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and relevant sections of the IPC.

    They were produced before the sessions court in Ambajogai town of Beed district.

    While Sharma was sent to 14-day judicial custody, Arun More was remanded to one-day police custody by the court.

    The action against them was taken on a complaint lodged by one Vishakha Ghadge in connection with the incident that took place on Sunday, an official had said.

    Sharma had earlier announced on social media that she would hold a press conference at Parli in Beed district on Sunday, where she would reveal some information.

    As per her announcement, Sharma came to Parli in the afternoon.

    A heavy deployment of police was put in place around Shree Vaidyanath Mandir area, where she arrived, the official said.

    In the complaint, Ghadge said when she was standing in the area, Sharma came there and abused her over her caste.

    At that time, Arun More, who accompanied Sharma, attacked a man named Guddu Tamboli with a knife, Beed Superintendent of Police (SP) Raja Ramaswami had said, quoting the complaint.

    Based on the complaint, a case was registered against Sharma and More under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) and under the SC/ST Act.

    The Parli police had also claimed they recovered a revolver from Sharma’s car during a search on Sunday, following which her driver Dilip Pandit was arrested under the Arms Act.

    Addressing a press conference on Monday, Beed SP Ramaswami said acting to a separate complaint filed by Sharma, police have registered a case against 100 to 200 people for gathering near the venue of her press meet in violation of COVID-19 protocols that ban crowding in view of the pandemic.

    When Sharma arrived for her press conference, a large crowd, including women, had gathered near the venue, where police personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.

    Sharma’s car was stopped by the crowd in front of a temple, where some women had gathered to protest against her.

    “Don’t make false allegations against Dhananjay Munde, he is god for us,” shouted some of the women.

    At this point, Sharma allegedly hurled casteist abuses at the woman, while Arun More stabbed the man named Guddu Tamboli, the police have aid.

    Based on medical certificate issued by doctors, attempt to murder and other sections were invoked against Sharma and Arun More, said the SP.

  • One of the men who hurled casteist slurs at hockey player Vandana Kataria practised with her

    By Express News Service

    DEHRADUN: A case has been registered against two men who hurled casteist slurs on hockey star striker Vandana Kataria’s family in her native village of Roshanabad in Haridwar district of Uttarakhand. 

    The accused — Sumit Chauhan and Vijay Pal — are from the same village. Haridwar police have registered cases against them under section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and Section 3 in The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. 

    Interestingly, one of the accused is a hockey player himself and used to practise with Kataria about seven years ago, said family members of the Olympian. 

    “He used to practise with my sister and has played hockey for Uttarakhand. This act proves that either he is insane or a traitor. Otherwise, who in his/her right mind is going to celebrate the loss of India even if it is in the sports,” said Pankaj Kataria, brother of the former captain of the Indian women’s hockey team. 

    ALSO READ | ‘India lost because it has too many Dalit players’: Casteist slurs were thrown at hockey star Vandana Katariya’s family

    Vandana’s kin said after the news of the Indian women’s hockey team losing to Argentina was flashed on television, a group of people started bursting crackers, dancing in front of their home and abusing the family. 

    “Just after 10 seconds the match wound up, we heard noises of cracker bursting. We were so in grief that we could not understand what happened. A few minutes later we git to know that some people are dancing in front of our house. They hurled casteist slurs and celebrated the losing of India as if it were something great for them,” said Chandrashekhar Kataria, brother of the Olympian.

    Earlier on Wednesday, Savita Kataria sister-in-law of Vandana Kataria said that she will die by suicide if action was not taken against the culprits following which the case was registered. However, the police officials also added that the family of Kataria and two men have been involved in the tussle. 

    “The families have some issues between them. Initial investigation revealed that this was an act out of jealousy. We are investigating the case,” said an official from the police department involved in the investigation.