Bangalore, Nov. 23:
In the biggest-ever “High Court Chalo” demonstration here this morning over 1,000 slogan-shouting members of the Karnataka Dalit Action Committee were arrested after they burnt the effigy of Chief Justice D. M Chandrasekhar, Burka-clad Muslim women, Christians, OBCs, a Brahmin journalist and even two black-robed lawyers joined the massive demonstration which had created considerable anxiety in the minds of the judiciary and the police.
The agitation was to demand implementation of the constitutional reservation in the High Court establishment to SC/STs and OBCs. They carried a huge portrait of Dr. Ambedkar and placards denouncing the anti-Dalit stand taken by the chief justice. Hundreds of office-goers watched the demonstration. This is the fourth time the DAC was staging a protest demonstration against the High Court in the past four years but the High Court had refused to budge an inch, continuously flouting the Constitution. Instead of acting as the guardian of the Constitution, the High Court was itself violating the Constitution, D.M. Thimmarayappa, convener of the DAC, told the Dalit demonstrators before getting arrested. The city police had erected a wall of constables to see that the defiant Dalits did not enter the High Court. They had also tried their best to see that the effigy of the chief justice was not burnt. But the Dalits refused to oblige the police. The arrests followed the moment the effigy of the CJ carried in a coffin was set on fire. The arrests foiled the proposed Dalit march to High Court. The 18-point demand of the DAC included appointment of more Dalit judges. Currently there was only one judge each from the SC, Muslim and OBCs. Women, tribals and Christians had no representation. Only the three top-castes – Brahmins, Lingayat’s and Vokkaligas – were dominating the bench. To some judges, the HC had become a family property. The “High Court Chalo” had received indirect support from several influential circles. The state Chief minister, several Ministers, senior Govt and police officers, a section of the lawyers, Marxist parties like the CPM and CPI, many legislators were said to be happy with the DAC action. If the HC refused to make amends, a bigger agitation would follow. All of them agreed that the judiciary in India had been always anti-poor. Meanwhile, the Dalit Voice has received information that Dalits and persecuted minorities in other parts of India are preparing to follow the Bangalore example. The Tamil Nadu Dalits had displayed the DAC posters in the Madras High Court. However, DAC authorities were pained to note that the white-collar Dalit employees, who were the main victims of the anti-Dalit stand of the HC, did not participate in today’s agitation in full strength. It was mainly a show of the illiterate, poor village and slum-dwelling Dalits and Muslims. Dr. Ambedkar had rightly expressed sorrow over the apathy of the educated Dalits who were enjoying the fruits of the reservation. We hope this section would rise to the occasion and come in full strength when the DAC came up with another bigger programme.
