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Central Chronicle, November 16, 2006
Khairlanji: How the other half dies?
Subhash Gatade
It is now history how the rage of the dalit
masses over these killings helped bring the whole
issue to the centrestage of the state politics
more than a month after the actual incident.
Mass killings of dalits or gangrapes of dalit
women in full public view were considered things
of a bygone era in the ’progressive’ state of
Maharashtra. People would rather point towards
other states especially in the North, to tell
that such type of things do not happen here. More
articulate people would point towards recently
released report(s) which give Maharashtra 10th
rank in matters of dalit atrocities. But
Khairlanji has changed it forever.
Surekha Bhootmange, aged 45 years, mother of two
sons -Roshan and Sudhir - and a bright daughter
Priyanka, who yearned to join the military, had
to pay a very dear price for standing up to the
local upper castes attempts at snatching her
small piece of land. Who would have imagined that
the village Khairlanji where Surekha had been
married to Bhaiyyalal for more than 25 years
would one day metamorphose into her own tomb?
Today her saga of struggle is part of the local folklore.
The Bhhotmanges were part of mere two dalit
(Mahar) families among a majority of 150 families
comprising of Powars and Kalars - which come
under OBCs- in Khairlanji, a non-descript village
in Bhandara district of Maharashtra.
It was the evening of 29th September when Surekha
was cooking food that their house came under
attack by scores of people from her own village.
And leading the horde of attackers were those
very people who were implicated in an attack on
Surekha’s cousin brother Siddharth. In fact
Surekha and Priyanka were the sole witnesses to
this attack and had promptly put their name as
witnesses.
The mother and daughter were subjected to
repeated gangrapes in full public view, their
marauders did not leave their bodies even when
they had already breathed their last. None of
those people from her own village, with whom she
had shared a long relationship came to their
rescue. They were mere onlookers. Bhaiyyalal,
Surekha’s husband escaped the macabre dance of
death only because he was not at home then.
The barbaric killings were followed by a
systematic coverup operation with due connivance
of the local police and administration. Village
level Panchayat was held immediately after the
gory incident and it was ’decreed’ that nobody
would utter a word about it. The police officials
also ’complied’ with the request and cases under
some vague sections of Indian Penal Code were
filed where bail would have been easier.
It is also alleged that the local MLA who belongs
to the BJP was also instrumental in instigating
the perpetrators and then helping them hush up
the case. It is not surprising that the BJP-Shiv
Sena leadership which is ever ready to put the
ruling coalition on the mat has maintained
complete silence over the incident. The Nitin
Gadkaris or the Mundes or the Thakres have not
even condemned the barbaric killings of the
dalits. In fact to defuse and deviate people’s
attention from the spontaneous and militant
assertion of the dalits, the Bhandara district
units of the Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal have
joined hands to raise a counter agitation to
protest rape of an upper caste woman by a dalit
man.
The deputy Chief Minister who also manages home
portfolio made a routine visit to the site of
killings and expressed satisfaction over the
direction of investigation. Later when the
militant movement of dalits compelled him to wake
up from deep slumber, he instead of taking urgent
step to defuse the movement preferred to make
some irresponsible statements. Instead of
addressing the roots of the dalit anger, he
’discovered’ that their anger was a pointer
towards growing naxal-dalit affinity.
While the state government and its machinery
merely tried to put the issue below carpet and
the opposition saffron Parivar maintained a
studied silence to suit its own interests, the
response of the leadership of the mainstream
dalit movement was not qualitatively different.
Neither those factions of the Dalit formations
which are participating in the state government
nor those which have remained outside decided to
raise the pitch over the incident. The conspiracy
of silence on part of the dalit leadership was so
blatant that when lakhs of people converged (2nd
October) in Nagpur to celebrate golden jubilee
year of historic conversion of Dalits to
Buddhism, none of them deemed it necessary to
highlight the Khairlanji killings. Even according
to conservative estimates 15-20 lakh people
visited Deekshbhoomi during those celebrations
which continued for a fortnight.
It is now history how the rage of the dalit
masses over these killings helped bring the whole
issue to the centrestage of the state politics
more than a month after the actual incident and
compelled the government to go in for some damage
control exercise. It is now history how
Khairlanji has brought into sharp focus the
growing disjunction between the dalit leadership
and ordinary dalit masses.
According to close watchers of the state,
Khairlanji rather represents a climax of a
situation in a state which despite its
’progressive’ image has systematically ingrained
denial of justice to dalits and the other
marginalised sections of our society. May it be
the ongoing social boycott of Dalits in
Aarajkheda village, Renapur tehsil in Latur
district which happens to be Chief Minister’s
home district or the similar boycott of dalits in
village Yavati in Nanded district, the state has
never tried to shed its partisan image vis-a-vis
attacks on dalits.
Looking back the ’unique’ness of the Khairlanji
killings are evident to everyone. Firstly, it has
happened in a state which is said to be the
pioneer of the dalit movement in the country and
which has till date a very vibrant dalit
movement. Secondly, it is a stark reminder of the
fact that all those acts framed to supposedly to
protect the dalits and tribals are observed in
breach only. Thirdly, it also demonstrates the
growing bankruptcy of the mainstream dalit
movement which failed to even raise a voice
protesting the event.
Last but not the least, if it would not have been
the pressure from the grassroots and the churning
among the dalit masses, the issue was largely
forgotten. Nobody can deny that here lies the
hope.
Perhaps it would be more apt to say that
Khairlanji also represents birth of a ’new’ dalit
movement which is once again refusing to play a
’guest actor’ role in the polity and is equally
fed up with the cravenness of the Dalit leaders.
Why have the state’s top leaders ignored Khairalanji?
Afternoon Dispatch & Courier, India, Nov 17, 2006
[. . . ]
The Khairlanji massacare of Bhutmange family in
Bhandara district has reviled some startling
facts. What amazing is that all the top officials
related to this case are Dalit but they adopted
lackluster approach and in spite of victims being
Dalit they did not restrained themselves from
giving false report.
Bhandara District is in the Nagpur region. The
Inspector General of police (IG) of this region
is Ashok Ghivare, who visited Kairlanji a week
after the incidence is from Scheduled Caste
category. The Superintendent of Police (SP),
Bhandara Suresh Sagar is also from Dalit
community who too reached the spot very late and
casually. Sagar’s Deputy, Vinayak Susadkar who is
under suspension also from Scheduled Caste
community.
The police Prosecutor Lata Gajbhiye who advised
the cops not to apply the sections of Atrocity
Act to accuse is also from Dalit community.
Shockingly the Medical Officer Dr A J Shende, who
made the post mortem and submitted the report
saying Surekha and Priyanka Bhutmange were not
raped, is also hails from the same community. The
Police Sub Inspector (PSI) of local police
station Siddheshwar Bharne is from OBC category
and head constable Baban Meshram is tribal.
[. . . ].
Caste panchayats “illegitimate”, says Panchayati Raj Ministry
The Hindu, November 26, 2006
Special Correspondent
http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112602221000.htm
They base themselves on reactionary social practices. Retrograde actions of these are more widely reported in the media
NEW DELHI: The Union Panchayati Raj Ministry is initiating steps to reserve the expression “panchayats” exclusively for “the Panchayats” as referred to in Part IX of the Constitution. This is being done to distinguish the Constitutional panchayats from caste-based panchayats that come up illegally to resolve social issues.
The State of the Panchayats, 2006: A mid-term review and appraisal', brought out by the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry describes the khap panchayats or caste-based panchayats as extremely disturbing, adding that illegitimate and possibly illegal bodies call themselvespanchayats’ and, base themselves on extremely reactionary social practices and even social abuse, thereby giving the Panchayati Raj movement a bad name.
Tragically, the retrograde actions of these khap panchayats (and similar other caste-based organisations) are rather more widely reported in the media than the regular work of the Constitutionally-sanctioned Panchayati Raj Institutions, the report points out.
These illegitimate caste-based associations are not “panchayats” in the Constitutional sense of the term and have no legitimacy under the Constitution or law, it adds.
Draft ready
Meanwhile, the draft of the Bill for establishment of nyaya panchayats or village level dispute settlement mechanisms is ready and the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry has recently received the draft Bill for comments from the Union Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.
The Panchayati Raj Ministry had appointed a committee under the chairmanship of the former Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Upendra Baxi to prepare a draft bill for establishment of nyaya panchayats. It was mandated to draft guidelines, rules and explanatory rules for the proposed law on informal dispute settlement mechanisms at the village level.
Meanwhile, the report also suggests that there has been a growing involvement with local governance in other countries, particularly those in the South Asian region and the developing world.
An agreement has been reached in principle with Pakistan to establish an India-Pakistan Working Group on decentralisation at the secretary-level and an India-Pakistan Forum at the Ministerial level.
A Public Peace March to oppose the Khairanjali Massacre :
Day : Monday,27th November 2006
Time : 5 :00 Pm
Venue: Chaitya Bhumi, Shivaji Park, Mumbai
Dear Friends,
The Khairanjali massacre in Bhandara Jillah is a
black mile-stone of our human society! All the
strata of society need to come together to oppose
it. Atrocities committed towards minorities
anywhere in the world needs to be condemned.
Therefore, Let us come together to unanimously
raise our voices to oppose this kind of
incidences so that it does not happen again.
Please come down at the Chaitya Bhumi , Shivaji
Park on 27th Nov. at 5:00 pm. We will offer our
condolences for the killing of humanity at
Khairanjali. From there we will proceed towards
the statue of Senapati Bapat on Rande Road and
then to Prabodhankar Thakre’s statue on Gokhale
road and finally terminate the March at the
statue of Shivaji Maharaj at Shivaji Park.
Do join us.
Yusuf Mehar Alli Yuva Biradari Sadbhavna Sangh
Maharashtra Sarvoday Mandal Jamate- Islami
Maullana Azad Munch
Ghar Hakk Jagruti Parishad Mahila Vikas
Kendra
Sameep Pratishthan Jan Mukti Sangharsh Vahini
Sarkari Karmachari Sangh
Dada Saheb Gaikwad Sanskrutik Kendra Awami Dal
Dr Ambedkar Institue of Social & Economic Change
Girni Kamdar Sangharsh Samitee
Ex-Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Kalse Patil Vaman Kendre Y. D. Fadke
Anand Patwardhan Namdev Dhasaal Arjun Dangle
Prabhakar Kunthe Keshav Meshram Pushpa Bhave
G. G. Parikh Nikhil Wagle
Sanjeev Latkar Kumar Ketkar
Kishon Gordia
Hussain Dalwai Madhu Mohite
Amalakar Nadkarni Mrunal Gore
Vidya Chawhan Suran Barand Shankar Bagade
Varsha V V Sheikh
Hussein Smita Shah
Avinash Mahadekar Shaila Satpute
Kshama Dalawai Sandhya Gokhale
Amol S B Vijay Jadhav
Sajeev Chandokar Suresh Rasam
Subhash Shirke Prakash Deshmukh
Pratima Joshi Hemu Adhikari
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