60 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
On December 31, 1947, when the dhobi was washing his clothes, four villagers, including the Raja’s servants, approached him and asked him to wash their clothes which he refused. The villagers took Chiranji to the Raja’s house and gave him a beating. His mother and mother’s sister went there to intercede on his behalf but they too were assaulted.
The attackers then went away leaving Chiranji in the custody of one Ram Singh; finding him alone, Chiranji was alleged to have slapped him and run away. Ram Singh and other servants of the Raja chased him to his house where he had taken shelter. The villagers insisted upon his opening the door but when there was no response, his house was set on fire. A number of other huts were also reduced to ashes.
The dhobi lodged a complaint with the Police who disbelieved his story and wanted to prosecute him for a false report. He then filed a complaint in a Magistrate’s Court. The accused were convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment each. The High Court upheld the sentences imposed by the Magistrate.
The following news item has appeared in the ‘Indian News Chronicle ’ dated 31st August 1950.
Inhuman Treatment towards Harijans in Pepsu: Depressed Classes League’s Memorandum to Government.
Patiala, August 1950: “The unprovoked thrashing of the Backward Class people, inhuman insults heaped upon their women folk, indiscriminate ejectment of the Harijans from the lands, the virtual confinement of the Harijans and their cattle in their mud houses for days together without any fault is a long tale of suffering whose echoes are rising in proportion to the diminishing echoes of crime in general,” says a memorandum presented by the PEPSU Provincial Depressed Classes League to the State Government.
“While crime in PEPSU is on the decrease due to the vigorous efforts of the police,” the memorandum adds, “it is a pity that the sector of the Backward Class should be deprived of the protection from the un-social elements”. The Backward Classes economically handicapped as they are, find it very difficult to ventilate their day-to-day grievances to the authorities concerned who could immediately come to their rescue, and are perforce, compelled to submit to their lot, to the encouragement of the aggressor, and thus the wail of disgust against the present state of affairs grows still louder which in its turn is made stock of by the interested parties.”
The Provincial Depressed Classes League further quoted an instance to show how much inhuman treatment was being meted out