Violence in Nagpur over Dalit killings

NAGPUR, NOVEMBER 6 : Police lobbed several teargas shells and lathi-charged demonstrators as protests against last week’s killings of four members of a Dalit family turned violent. Today’s protests here saw nearly 40 vehicles, including that of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and those of two journalists, torched in the Indora and Wadi areas. A police chowki was also set ablaze.

Fifteen protesters were arrested.

Among the targets was the office of Nitin Raut, the Congress MLA from North Nagpur, a Dalit himself and among the first to visit the village and condemn the killings, allegedly by upper-caste Hindus.

Four members of the Bhotmange family— a woman, her two sons, and a daughter— had been killed over a long-standing land dispute. The head of the family, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, fled to save his life.

It is alleged that the woman, Surekha Bhotmange, had taken on the villagers with the help of one Siddharth Gajbhiye, a relative and police patil from the neighbouring Dhusala village, over the issue of the villagers’ demand to have a right of way through Bhiyyalal’s farm. Gajbhiye had a fight with a villager over some money dispute, following which the villagers had beaten him up.

The Bhotmanges had given testimony in the assault case, leading to arrests of some villagers. This so enraged the villagers that they first looked around for Siddharth, but on not finding him, turned on the Bhotmanges.

The village mob, which allegedly also included some women, pulled out Surekha (38) her sons Sudhir (20) and Roshan (18) and daughter Priyanka (17), stripped Roshan and Priyanka and killed all of them before throwing their bodies into a nearby canal.

The incident had led to widespread protests. North Nagpur MLA Nitin Raut, himself a Dalit, had alleged that Priyanka was raped by the mob and was attacked on her private parts before being killed. He had demanded an offence of rape against the assaulters and a fresh post-mortem by Dalit doctors.

The demand was conceded, but it is gathered no rape could be established. Raut has alleged a foul-play by police.

The police have so far arrested 44 people, including two women, and offences of murder and atrocities against Dalits have been registered against them. All are currently in magisterial custody. The police station in-charge of Andhalgaon, under whose jurisdiction the incident had occurred, was also suspended.

Maharashtra Human Rights Commission led by Chairman C S Thool had visited the village to inquire into the matter. Various Dalit organisations and political parties have been organising protests against the incident.