more-in Weaker sections of society were under constant fear as crimes against Dalits in different forms were on the rise, said former IAS officer and Samooga Samathuva Padai president P. Sivakami here on Wednesday. Though many factors contributed to discrimination against Dalits and other minorities, weak governance was the biggest encouragement for law offenders and dominant forces to indulge in violence against weaker sections and humiliate them. More than the police or others, it was the absence of a powerful government that appeared to be encouraging the offenders. The AIADMK groups were fighting among themselves for power and they were not worried about the hardship faced by the people, she charged. Advocate Rajini, convenor of Forum for Social Justice, said honour killings had increased in southern districts. Neither the police were upright, nor the government was firm to check the perpetrators. The amendments made to Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act too had not been effectively implemented to enable the victims to get the desired benefits. Due to poverty, many Dalit families sent their children to work, but ‘brokers’ sold them as bonded labourers. These brokers, who were mushrooming in Usilampatti and some other areas, should be arrested, she stressed. Later, members of the two organisations and PUCL convenor R. Murali addressed a seminar on Ambedkar at Gandhi Museum. They stressed the need to empower Dalits to exercise their rights and fulfill their long-pending demands, including retrieval of panchami lands, and speedy disposal of cases pending in courts.

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