MEERUT, Aug. 31 -- A Dalit mahapanchayat was organised at Commissionerate Park in Meerut on Sunday to seek justice in the alleged May 15 abduction and murder of a Scheduled Caste woman student and action against cops for alleged police brutality against protestors. People in large numbers were present at the event held at the call of Ravi Gautam, national president of the Yuva Shakti Dal. The mahapanchayat comes nearly two months after a protest on July 8, when members of the Bahujan community blocked the main road outside the district magistrate's office while protesting the student's abduction and murder. Police resorted to a baton charge to disperse the protesters. During the July 8 action, allegations were levelled against then then Meerut SSP Avinash Pandey that he entered a police detention vehicle and slapped Ravi Gautam. A video purportedly showing the incident subsequently went viral. Addressing the mahapanchayat, Gautam accused the police and district administration of failing to take concrete action against officials allegedly responsible for violating the constitutional rights of protesters. He demanded that cases be filed and legal action initiated against former SSP Avinash Pandey and SP (rural) Saumya Asthana. He also demanded withdrawal of cases against eight people who were sent to jail, 14 people named in an FIR, and other activists who had received police notices in connection with the earlier protests. "If our demands are not met, the movement will be intensified," Gautam said. The organisers also strongly objected to reports that activists were stopped at district borders and toll points and taken into custody....