Justice for Dika March in Patna
A protest march was taken out in Patna on 17 January under the banners of AIPWA, RYA and AISA to demand justice for Dika Kumari, a student of the Ambedkar Vidyalaya, Hajipur, in the hostel. A memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister through the Home Secretary. Despite obstacles from the police, the march raising spirited slogans demanding justice for Dika, proceeded from Gandhi Maidan to Golambar Chowk where it culminated in a meeting. A delegation led by AIPWA General Secretary Com. Meena Tiwari, which included Dika’s mother Kusumi Devi, met the government officials for talks while the meeting continued at the venue. The meeting was addressed by leaders of AIPWA, AISA and RYA and also by Dika’s younger sister Kajal who vowed that they would not end the struggle until they got justice for Dika. The speakers praised the courage of Kusumi Devi who rejected the Rs 4 lakh offered by the government and resisted the pressure to take back her complaint and instead joined the protests led by the CPI (ML). When the delegation returned after completion of the talks, Com Meena Tiwari informed the people at the protest that they had had talks with the Home Secretary who called the IG in charge of weaker sections and directed him to take needful action.
The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar through the Home Secretary with the following demands: (1) charge of gang rape of a minor girl should be added in the Hajipur thana case No. 09/2017 (2) Dika Kumari’s mother’s statement should be recorded under Section 164 (3) the accused teachers, Principal and other accused should be speedily identified, named in the FIR and arrested (4) an unbiased high level judicial probe should be conducted in the case (5) the rapists and murderers should be punished after a speedy trial (6) Rs 20 lakh compensation for the family of the victim (7) all needful resources should be provided for the development of education and students in all SC/ST hostels, schools and colleges in Bihar (8) enquiry by responsible officers into why one of the woman guards of this SC/ST hostel was kept at the DM’s residence (9) action should be taken against the teachers, Principal, Warden and other staff who have been provided quarters inside this SC/ST hostel but are not residing in their quarters and thus not fulfilling their responsibilities (10) newspapers and channels report the Hajipur SP’s statement that the post-mortem does not confirm rape in this case; this is a clear violation of the anti-rape law and action should be taken against those violating this law (11) Concrete steps should be taken to ensure a free, fearless and democratic environment for girl students in Bihar’s schools and colleges.
The march for justice concluded with the resolve that no dalit bast, tola or mohalla in Bihar would accept the money given by the government on 26 January for the purpose of buying sweets; instead tributes would be offered to Rohith Vemula and Dika Kumari on that day.
Protest March in Muzaffarpur
CPI (ML), Insaf Manch, AIPWA and AISA took out a protest rally in Muzaffarpur on 12 January against the gang rape and murder of dalit minor girl student Dika Kumari in Hajipur. The rally proceeded through the main roads of the city and concluded at the District HQs where the gates were jammed by the protesters. Victim Dika Kumari’s mother, her classmates from the Ambedkar Residential School, and women and dalit youth from her native village Fatehpur Kasturi participated in the march. Slogans were raised during the rally demanding justice for Dika, answers from the Chief Minister, action against Hajipur DM and SP for attempting to hush up the matter, arrest of the culprits, and Rs 20 lakh compensation and government employment for the victim’s family. A memorandum with these demands was submitted to the Chief Minister through the DM.
CPI (ML) City Secretary Ramsakal Das, Prof Arvind Kumar Dey, Suraj Kumar Singh, Aftab Alam, Fahad Jama, Sharda Devi, Madhusudan, Deepak, Vikesh, Raju Warsi, Vindeshwar, Rambali Mehta, Virendra Paswan, Swadhin Das, Dr Shivpriya and women, students and youth in large numbers participated in the rally.
