Koppal Deputy Commissioner gives set of instructions to curb untouchability

‘Install complaint boxes so that people can report atrocities anonymously’

Taking serious note of the Miyapur incident in which a Dalit family was recently fined ₹25,000 after its child entered a local temple, Koppal Deputy Commissioner Vikas Kishor Suralkar, on Friday evening, held a meeting of senior officers and gave a series of directions to effectively curb the practice of untouchability and invoke the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in the district.

One of the directions he gave was the instalment of complaint boxes at the offices of all tahsildars and nada kacheries so as to facilitate people, who wish to be anonymous, to report incidents of atrocities and discrimination against people from the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs).

“In many cases, SCs and STs who are assaulted or discriminated against are reluctant to lodge a complaint because of the fear of revenge. They think that lodging a complaint and resorting to a legal process may make things more complex for them. To help them report the incidents and remain anonymous, we should put separate complaint boxes at each tahsildar office and nada kacheries across the district. Anybody who is aware of incidents of untouchability and atrocities against SCs and STs can drop a complaint in these boxes and our officers would take every complaint seriously,” Mr. Suralkar said, asking his officers to put the boxes by Monday.