BOTH Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state governments must take initiative to see that a special bench of Supreme Court takes up the Tsundur massacre of dalits case immediately, said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member B V Raghavulu in Hyderabad. He was addressing a dharna in front of Hyderabad district collectorate office organised by ‘Struggle Committee for Justice to Tsundur Dalits’, Left parties, KVPS and mass organisations on June 16. These dharnas were held in front of collectorates of all the districts of both the states protesting the AP High Court verdict that acquitted all the accused in the massacre of dalits in Tsundur. Veteran human rights activist and prominent advocate Bojja Tarakam also participated. The protesters laid siege to the offices for hours together and later submitted memorandums to the collectors. Raghavulu in his speech said that it must be ensured that the bench of Supreme Court comprises of those judges who are sensitive to the cause of social justice otherwise justice may be miscarried as happened in the AP High Court. Overturning of the verdict of the special court that conducted the trial in the case, the High Court acquitted all the accused. This is height of injustice, said Raghavulu. Both the AP and Telangana governments must approach the Supreme Court and submit proper evidence and press the case for constitution of a special bench to go into this case. Dalits are living in fear with continuous massacres like Karamchedu, Tsundur, Lakshimpeta etc. He wanted the governments to take stern steps to prevent such massacres and also to remove caste discrimination entirely. CPI Telangana state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy in his speech termed it as jungle raj where killers of dalits go scot free. Bojja Tarakam pointed out the lacuna in the latest judgement of the High Court acquitting the accused. CPI(M) state committee member D G Narasimha Rao, KVPS general secretary John Wesley and others participated in the dharna in front of Ranga Reddy district collectorate office. Similar protests took place in front of 13 district collectorate offices in Andhra Pradesh state. TSUNDUR TO TENALI KVPS PADAYATRA Earlier a massive padayatra was undertaken by KVPS from the site of massacre in Tsundur to Tenali protesting the High Court verdict from June 10-11. It was led by KVPS Telangana secretary John Wesley and KVPS AP secretary Malyadri. Hundreds of activists formed part of pada yatra while thousands participated in the meetings held along the route of the padayatra. A massive public meeting was held in Tenali on 11th June that was addressed apart from the two secretaries, the secretaries of CPI(M) Krishna district and Guntur district, R Raghu and D Ramadevi. The speakers condemned the miscarriage of justice and demanded that both the state governments act urgently to set right the situation. Cultural programmes preceded the speeches by leaders.