Caste murders in India
17 dismembered bodies found - 6 police officers fired in New Delhi, India suburb
Landry Haarmann
Issue date: 1/19/07 Section: World
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Ten years have passed since the Indian caste order of the "Untouchable" was made illegal. However, prejudice against this lower class still exists. A recent case of such bigotry resulted in no attempt by the police to investigate the deaths of 17 women and children. Family members of the missing people claimed that police paid no attention to the reports of missing persons that were filed.
The police even misled the missing children's parents. Durga Prasad told MSNBC in December, "The police tell us they're looking and asked us to keep looking too, but we have no news about our child." Prasad's 7-year-old daughter went missing on Sept. 25.
Other parents were outright dismissed. Pappu Lal, whose 8-year-old daughter went missing, said to MSNBC that police told him, "You people just give birth to children and leave them on the streets, and then you want police to find them when they go missing."
The bodies of 17 dismembered women and children recently turned up in a storm drain near the house of Moninder Singh Pandher in an affluent New Delhi suburb, Noida, India. Lal's daughter was one of the children found in the sewer.
First-year Isaac McAlister found that the reluctance of the police to do anything a form of negligence and an obvious lack of interest in people of lower social standing. "It reflects a socio-economic tension and disregard of the human rights for a group of people who are probably not even regarded by society because of their social standing," McAlister said.
Two years have passed since many of the 17 people went missing due, in part, to the police department's disinterest in the cases. The investigation finally got underway when people were led to the storm drain by a nauseating scent next to Pandher's house.
Six police officers were recently fired and three higher ranking officials were suspended for failure to investigate the claims made by the victims' family members, most of whom who are reportedly poor migrant workers.
The police even misled the missing children's parents. Durga Prasad told MSNBC in December, "The police tell us they're looking and asked us to keep looking too, but we have no news about our child." Prasad's 7-year-old daughter went missing on Sept. 25.
Other parents were outright dismissed. Pappu Lal, whose 8-year-old daughter went missing, said to MSNBC that police told him, "You people just give birth to children and leave them on the streets, and then you want police to find them when they go missing."
The bodies of 17 dismembered women and children recently turned up in a storm drain near the house of Moninder Singh Pandher in an affluent New Delhi suburb, Noida, India. Lal's daughter was one of the children found in the sewer.
First-year Isaac McAlister found that the reluctance of the police to do anything a form of negligence and an obvious lack of interest in people of lower social standing. "It reflects a socio-economic tension and disregard of the human rights for a group of people who are probably not even regarded by society because of their social standing," McAlister said.
Two years have passed since many of the 17 people went missing due, in part, to the police department's disinterest in the cases. The investigation finally got underway when people were led to the storm drain by a nauseating scent next to Pandher's house.
Six police officers were recently fired and three higher ranking officials were suspended for failure to investigate the claims made by the victims' family members, most of whom who are reportedly poor migrant workers.
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