Protest at police station after Dalit ‘falls to death at construction site
POSTED ON MARCH 9, 2021
Hundreds of people organised a sit-in protest outside and on the premises of Vadaj police station well past Tuesday midnight after a 27-year old Dalit man, Pankajbhai Parmar fell to his death at a construction site on Monday.
The family and community members have demanded for an FIR under section 304 (culpable home use not amounting to murder) as against IPC section 304-A (causing death by negligence).
According to Manish Parmar (30) who was at the construction site at the Vijay Nagar School along with Pankaj, none of the workers were provided any safety gear by the contractor. According to Manish, the incident occurred around 10:30 am.
Pankaj slipped from a makeshift bamboo ladder and fell from the second floor, claimed Parmar.
“Our on-site supervisor Kevin Mehta then took him to a nearby private hospital where they informed that he should be shifted to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Upon taking him there in an ambulance, we rushed to the emergency ward, where the doctors declared him dead.”
Members of the Dalit community members have refused to claim the body unless an FIR under section 304 is filed.
The police were unavailable for comment on the matter at the time of going to press on Tuesday evening.
The construction site was Vijay Nagar School, where renovation work is under way.
Pankaj was the eldest in a family of four sons,with a daily earning of Rs 500-600, sources said.
Shantiben Parmar, mother of Pankaj, said, “My son is gone, what does it matter now?”
Courtesy : TIE
