Dalits stage protest over ‘assault’ of Group 4 security guard

Activists demand arrest of 4 officials, claiming caste motive behind ‘attack’

Dalits stage a protest outside Indira Nagar Police Station demanding the arrest of four senior officials they claim attacked  a security guard.

By Krithika Krishnamurthy

BANGALORE (Oct. 11)—About 120 people, including members of a scheduled caste activist group, staged a protest Tuesday against Group 4 Security Service India Pte. Ltd., demanding the arrest of four senior officials who allegedly assaulted a security guard.

The alleged victim, A. Mahanta, 24, has been working for Group 4 for the past five years.

Giriraj, subinspector of Indira Nagar Police Station, outside which the rally was staged, told The SoftCopy that someone took a photograph of Mahanta sleeping while he was supposed to be on duty for Hewlett-Packard and sent it to Group 4.

Mahanta told The SoftCopy that he slept while on duty sometime in the month of September.

The FIR complainant, Vinod Kumar

On Sept. 30, Mahanta was summoned to Group 4’s C.V. Ramanagar branch and asked to explain why he was asleep during one of his night shifts. Mahanta went to the branch with his younger brother, U.K. Mahanta, 20, who also works for Group 4.

A. Mahanta reportedly requested the return of both their documents, which they submitted when they joined the company, saying they would seek employment elsewhere.

It was then that Govindraj, the patrolling supervisor at Group 4’s C.V. Raman Nagar branch, and Kumar, the operation senior manager, attacked A. Mahanta, beating him about his head, neck, nose and ears until his ears started bleeding, according to eyewitness Vinod Kumar, 24, organizing secretary of the Group 4 Security SC/ST OBC Minority Workers’ Welfare Association, who was there to discuss why SC/ST OBC workers were not being allotted work.

A. Mahanta

Kumar, who claims he was beaten up and verbally abused at the meeting for being a member of a scheduled caste, filed a first information report (FIR) against the four officials—Govindraj, Patrolling Supervisor Mr. Kumar, Branch Manager Vijay Nair and Operations Assistant Manager Arun Kumar—under the Prevention of Atrocities SC/ST Act 1989.

“Vijay Nair said to me, ‘Next time you show your face, I will kill you,’” Vinod Kumar told The SoftCopy.

Eleven days have passed since the FIR was filed, but the four officials have not been apprehended.

“The investigation is still on. We cannot arrest anyone without enough evidence,” said Narasimhaiah, the assistant commissioner of police, Ulsoor, the investigating officer in charge of the case.

“Current evidence suggests that the accused Vijay Nair was not at the spot at all. He was in Ulsoor at that time,” he added.

Giriraj said this was the first time a complaint of harassment been filed against Group 4 in Indira Nagar Police Station.

“This is an internal matter. We cannot share any details with you. Do not trouble me,” said Ramaswamy, personnel manager and general manager (South Region) of Group 4.

Group 4 Managing Director Hector Rosario refused to comment on the issue.

But as the number of protesters at the rally swelled, the deputy commissioner of police, Bangalore East, Chandrashekar, spoke to R. Mohan Raj, state convener of the scheduled caste activist group, Karnataka Dalita Sangharshana Samithi, by phone and promised that action would be taken soon, Rajanna, an official of Karnataka Dalita Sangharshana Samithi, told The SoftCopy.