Latest news with #RajendraPalGautam
The Hindu
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Take action against judges who show caste bias in rulings, Congress urges CJI
The Congress on Thursday (July 3, 2025) urged the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to take note of High Court judges who show 'caste bias' in their rulings. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Rajendra Pal Gautam, chairman of the scheduled caste (SC) department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), cited a recent judgement of the Odisha High Court in which a social activist was directed to sweep and clean a police station as bail conditions. Mr. Gautam said two activists, who were protesting against illegal mining, were jailed in a 'false and fabricated case'. When one of them was granted bail by the High Court, he was told to clean a police station between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. every day for three months. Mr. Gautam said that the other activist also got bail on similar conditions from a lower court. 'If this is the attitude of a judge toward castes, then what can you expect from a common man. I would urge the CJI to find out such judicial orders and there should be action such judges too,' Mr. Gautam said. Quoting a 2021 judgement of the Chhattisgarh High Court, Mr. Gautam said a rape accused was acquitted on the grounds that 'upper caste men cannot rape an SC or ST woman'. 'A similar reasoning was given in the infamous Bhanwari Devi gang rape case in Rajasthan in 1992. Nothing has changed in all these years,' the AICC SC department head said. Quoting National Crime Records Bureau data, Mr. Gautam said there was a consistent increase in the crimes against SCs and STs, and that there was a need to strengthen the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. He said these bodies have been rendered powerless as the government has not appointed all the members. Mr. Gautam said that out of over six lakh complaints received regarding atrocities against SCs and STs, only about 7,500 were heard by these Commissions. 'If you do not want these commissions to function, it is better scrap them,' he said. The Congress leader also alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that claims to be working for the unity of Hindus does not consider Dalits and tribals as Hindus. Mr. Gautam said that there has been 35% increase in atrocities against SCs and STs. To argue how the national bodies for the protection of SCs and STs have become powerless, he cited examples from different States to make the point that there is no effective deterrence. He said in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara, a tribal person was forced to drink urine earlier this week, while in a recent incident in Odisha, a tribal man was forced to walk on his knees after he was allegedly accosted by Bajrang Dal activists. 'In Tamil Nadu, there was a case where a Dalit sarpanch (panchayat head) was forced to sit on the floor while forward caste people sat on chairs,' he said.
Time of India
04-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Rise of outsiders: Ex-AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam gets key Congress post
Former Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP ) government minister in Delhi Rajendra Pal Gautam , who joined the Congress about seven months ago, was on Wednesday appointed chairman of the Scheduled Castes department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). It is the latest in a series of elevation of "outsiders" to key party posts, a trend that has been widely attributed by Congress members to de facto leader Rahul Gandhi 's penchant to replace many "insiders", though such appointments are technically done in the name of party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Gautam, an activist, is also one of the persons widely believed to be thriving in Gandhi's latest switch to "social justice plank" with special focus on Jai Bhim and Mandal political paths. He had resigned from the AAP after a controversy over his presence at a conversion meeting where the Hindu deities were allegedly criticised. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trending in in 2025: Local network access control [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Just a few months ago, Anil Jaihind, an activist who used to be with Janata Dal, was appointed chairman of the OBC department of the AICC, within weeks after he joined the Congress. He is an advocate of social justice, especially for the other backward classes (OBCs). Before that, former CPI-affiliated AISF student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was made AICC in-charge of the NSUI, the Congress students' wing, which the Left students' body had been opposing in many campuses. While each of these individuals were elevated with Gandhi's blessings, within the party circles they are still being treated as outsiders. Gandhi, who recently referred to "BJP sympathisers" within the Congress, had in the past elevated many saffronites-turned-Congress members , including Hardik Patel, Sanjay Nirupam, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Nana Patole and Udit Raj to key organisational posts, only to see some of them returning to the BJP and others being resented by the "original insiders". Live Events
