Day before Gujarat Dalit rally: SIT set up to probe 2012 Thangadh Dalit killings

The state government also decided to form a special designated court and appoint a special public prosecutor to expedite the case.

Muslims and hundreds of members of India’s low-caste Dalit community gather for a rally in Una, Gujarat state, India, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. The Dalits have been protesting since four men belonging to their community were beaten while trying to skin a dead cow in July near this western Indian town. Videos of the four being stripped and beaten with sticks by men claiming to be cow protectors in Gujarat state had gone viral and sparked protests by Dalit groups across India. The Dalits, belong to the lowest rung of Hinduism's caste hierarchy. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Muslims and hundreds of Dalits gather for a rally in Una (Source: AP)

A day before a Dalit rally in Gandhinagar to press for a CBI probe into the 2012 Thangadh police firing, the Gujarat government Saturday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the incident in which three Dalit youths were killed.

The state government also decided to form a special designated court and appoint a special public prosecutor to expedite the case. Besides, it announced an additional Rs 2 lakh compensation to the next of kin of each of the victims.

Announcing the formation of the SIT, MoS for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja said: “Talks were going on for the past three to four days. The government is sensitive and not under any kind of pressure.” Rajkot Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot, Surat DCP Parikshita Rathod and Porbandar SP Tarun Duggal have been named as members of the SIT.

On Friday, members of Gujarat Anusuchit Jaati Atyachar Sangharsh Samiti, NGO Navsarjan and family members of the victims had announced a Dalit rally on Sunday in Gandhinagar to demand a CBI investigation into the incident. Relatives of the victims had begun a relay hunger strike at Sector 6 in Gandhinagar since August 1 to press their demands. They broke their fast Friday night after Minister for Social Justice and Welfare Atmaram Parmar met them and promised immediate action.

A Dalit man was killed and three others seriously injured when the police opened fire in Thangadh town of Surendranagar district during clashes between Dalit and Bharwad communities on September 22 and September 23 in 2012.

Two injured youths later succumbed to bullet injuries.

The government had earlier ordered a probe into the incident and a report was submitted to it by the then principal secretary of the social justice and empowerment department Sanjay Prasad. The inquiry report has not yet been made public.

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