On May 22, Jignesh Mevani, MLA from Vadgam, Gujarat, released a strongly worded statement on his Facebook page, following the killing of Rajesh Sondarva. Sondarva was a 21-year-old dalit murdered by upper caste Hindu men in Rajkot, Gujarat. Earlier in May, a village sarpach in the state’s Mehsana district issued a diktat for the social boycott of a dalit man and his family, because he rode a horse at his wedding. Mevani titled the statement: “Gujarat: Hell on Earth for Dalits and Adivasis”. He wrote: “In 2019, the Gujarat government revealed a 32% rise in crimes against Scheduled Castes between 2013 and 2017, and a 55% rise in crimes against Scheduled Tribes for the same period”. Mevani also reminded people that the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (PoA Act) had been enacted to ensure that state agencies could take proactive measures to prevent atrocities. He added that the Gujarat state government had failed to either take corrective measures or to ensure that the victims and their families get justice when crimes are committed against them. Speaking to Newsclick and the Indian Cultural Forum, Mevani said, “In the state of Gujarat there is a mindset among upper-caste people that absolutely nothing is going to happen to them even if they keep subjecting Dalits to violence, discrimination and brutality. So the strong message that should have gone from the administration, the police and the government has not gone at all. Rather, through callousness and indifference, the BJP government in Gujarat is telling upper caste people that it is only them that they stand for.”

After the results of the 2019 General Elections were announced, Modi made a speech about minorities to the NDA MPs. He said that minorities live in an “imagined fear, this imagined atmosphere and this environment of dread was created – thereby keeping them aside, keeping them repressed, and only using them during elections.” Modi’s staggering capacity for Newspeak aside, the reality he dismisses as a “myth” is quite dire. That is true of both the state he ruled as Chief Minister from 2001-2014 and the nation that he will take over for a second term.

What atrocities?
Political figures like Jignesh Mevani who have fought for civil rights for years have a sobering side to tell. To understand the attitude of the government of Gujarat, Mewani says we have to take another look at the death of the Right to Information (RTI) activist Nanjibhai Sondarva. Nanjibhai was the father of Rajesh Sondarva. In May 2018, he was clubbed to death for filing an RTI application that sought details on financial irregularities for a road recently built to the village. The Manekawada village sarpanch was one among the accused. An article in CounterView written in the days following Nanjibhai’s murder, says that 11 RTI activists had been murdered for questioning the “Gujarat Model of Development”. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an independent international organisation, has been “mapping” the assault, harassment and killing of RTI activists based on news media reports. According to it, between 2008 and 2019, 45 incidents have occurred in Gujarat. 12 were murders and one was a suicide. Earlier this year, Scroll.in had taken a look at the steady attempts to dilute the RTI Act by the Modi government. It is an unhappy read.

In the case of Gujarat, a state that consistently brutalises dalits, this is what happens to those who have the courage to question upper castes wielding administrative power. Mevani alleges that there was a video made by Nanjibhai that was widely circulated before his death in which he expressed fear for his life. Mewani asks why it is that the PoA Act is not being implemented properly to prevent atrocities. “Why did the local police, concerned Superintendent and District Magistrate not take cognisance? The result? Nanjibhai Sondarva, one of the best RTI activists we had from the dalit community was killed on May 9, last year” he says. “Instead of being ashamed about their failure, the police and the Gujarat government have gone into deeper slumber. Within a year Rajesh Sondarva, his son, was requesting adequate protection so that at least he is not killed. Police protection was provided, but the attitude of the operatives was apathetic. These casteist-feudal forces are so sure that nobody is going to touch them and that the state is not going take any stringent action against them. This boy was also killed last week.” Rajesh had refused to withdraw the case against the accused in his father’s murder. The accused were out on bail. An article by The Wire, quotes social rights activist and Association for Democratic Reform (ADR) Gujarat state coordinator Pankti Jog. Jog reportedly told them that Rajesh managed to identify his attackers. Right before losing consciousness, he apparently informed someone that he had been attacked by those accused of his father’s murder. In the same article, Jog adds that Mevani has been in touch with the Sondarva family in order to help them with the case. 

The May 7 incident in Mehsana is one of four incidents to occur within a week in Gujarat and all of them just concerning dalit wedding processions. On May 12, in Khambhisar village, a wedding procession was pelted with stones by upper-caste people. It was reported on May 28, that the horse used by the groom succumbed to its injuries.

On May 20, in the Baroda taluk, a dalit couple, identified as Tarulataben Mackwana and Pravin Mackwana, was attacked by over 200 upper caste men for a Facebook post. The husband in a Facebook post had said that dalits were not being allowed to get married in the village temple by the state government. The attack itself appears to have occurred on Monday, May 20, but came to light on Thursday, May 23, after the FIR was filed. To add insult to this grievous injury, Pravin Mackwana, who wrote the Facebook post, has also been booked for “promoting enmity between different groups.”

For a sordid, but by no means complete, list of injustices and discriminatory practices from 2014-18, the extract from Bhed-Bharat, by Martin Macwan, is necessary reading. Martin Macwan is the founder of the Navsarjan Trust (1989) and the Dalit Shakti Kendra (1999). He is an activist who has fought caste injustices in Gujarat and other parts of India for 40 years.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989
The National Coalition for Strengthening SCs and STs, comprising of 70 organisations, activists and experts, published a “Report Card” in 2010, reviewing 20 years of the PoA Act. This 70 page report card also provides a historical sketch of the Act. According to it, post-Independence, it was clear that despite Article 17 of the Constitution abolishing and forbidding “untouchability”, discriminatory practices continued. To check this, the 1955 Untouchability Offences Act, was amended and renamed the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1976. Though not entirely sufficient, it continues to exist. To quote the National Coalition for Strengthening SCs and STs, a “more comprehensive and more punitive Act was required to protect SCs and STs from violence committed by other communities”. This was the origin of the SC/ST (PoA) Act, 1989.

In its introduction to the PoA Act, the above report highlights how the term “atrocities” was defined for the first time. These are enlisted in Chapter II, “Offences of Atrocities” when committed by “whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe”. In 2015, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act was passed. The entire PoA Act including these amendments can be read here. The announcement for the amendments can also be perused by those interested. Reading through them, one will see that the atrocities mentioned in the article, and the countless others that SCs and STs are routinely subjected to, are in violation of this Act. In March 2018, the Supreme Court passed a verdict that diluted the PoA Act claiming that it was being used for “blackmail”. This understandably led to massive backlash. In August the same year, the Government of India passed the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018, effectively nullifying the effects of the verdict. While this seems a progressive and proactive measure, one is inclined to wonder how much this had to do with the then upcoming state and Lok Sabha elections.

In the second chapter of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)Act report for the year 2016 the following claims are made about Gujarat among other states:
 

1. Special courts to ensure speedy trials of cases under PoA Act: Out of 33 districts, 16 special courts in Gujarat.
2. Setting up of (a) SC/ST Protection Cells at State Headquarters, and (b) Special Police Stations for SC/ST: SC/ST Protection Cell at the State headquarters under the charge of a DGP, ADGP/IGP
3. Nodal Officers for coordinating the functioning of District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police
4. Delineation of “Identified areas” or “atrocity prone areas” + Spl Officers

 
The same claims had been made in reports from the year 2010 and 2013.

A review of the PoA and PCR Acts available on the same website, was presented in a meeting of State Secretaries in February this year. It offers dismal information about Gujarat and many other states. 1321 cases of atrocities against SCs were registered in Gujarat in 2016. Gujarat also features in the list of “States where conviction rate was in single digit in regard to PoA Act related cases, in conjunction with the IPC, during 2016, as against all India conviction rate of 24.9 percent”. The conviction rate was 0.4 percent. The number of cases pending at the end of 2016, in Exclusive Special Courts in Gujarat stood at 8998. Neither of these latter two lists are specific as to whether it is regarding both SCs and STs. It must be noted that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data that is publicly available stops after 2016.

The “Report Card” mentioned earlier, cites another report made by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with regard to non-registration of cases under the PoA Act. It alleges that due to police collusion with dominant caste or departmental suppression of crime rates figures, crimes are registered under the IPC instead of the PoA Act. Also referring to a study made by Martin Macwan and Harshad Desai, the “Report Card” gives one such example from Gujarat. From a “sample study covering 11 atrocity-prone districts exposed that between 1990 – 1993, 36 percent atrocities cases were not registered under PoA Act. In 84.4 percent of cases where the act was applied, the cases were registered under wrong provisions with a view to concealing the violent nature of the incidents.” The study also says that between 1995-2007, less than one-third of the crimes against SCs/STs were registered under the PoA. We spoke to Paul Divaker, one of the founding members of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR). He says that the trend of registering cases under the IPC instead of the PoA Act continues.

Institutionalised discrimination and abuse are some aspects of caste based atrocities that need to be spoken of more. In Bhed-Bharat, Martin Macwan notes the higher incarceration rates of Dalits: “Around 32.9 percent of all convicts and 23.4 percent of under-trials in Gujarat’s prisons are dalits, a community that forms just about 6.7 percent of the state’s overall population” as of 2014. Access to health care, especially pre and post-natal care, is also liable to caste-based discrimination. He notes that in 2015, in Hajipur, Patan District, a three-year-old dalit girl was stopped at the gate of Anganwadi Centre No. 160 and told to go to Centre No. 159, “the one for dalits”. Keeping this mind, the question whether discrimination against dalit Aganwadi and ASHA workers by upper caste women who may refuse to be treated by them also arises. How does the PoA Act then ensure right to health care and right to work? How does it protect against systemic discrimination as illustrated by high incarceration rates?

Paul Divaker points out that in general in the country, there are discriminatory practices with regard to schools (right to education), wage labour and corporate recruitment. He told us that the PoA Act does not take such forms of discrimination into consideration. He says that they are drafting a proposal for an “Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discriminatory Act”. They hope to submit this to people in the government who are likely to respond to it. 

Divaker says that the lack of authoritative data will soon become a problem for those working for civil liberties and the rights of minorities and marginalised people. The example of the NCRB data is worrying. Divaker says that its effects will be crippling.

After being voted back to power, Modi talked to his MPs about reaching out to minorities. The Hindutva forces that helped bring him to power, on the other hand, assault and murder minorities with increasing impunity. The number of cases reported just after the election results were announced on May 23 are telling. Against this, the talk of inclusivity and safeguarding minority rights simply looks like an attempt to mislead international news media. The article in Time magazine — that called him the Divider-in-Chief, the Mehdi Hassan interview with Nalin Kohli in Al Jazeera, and numerous other international features and stories, have drawn attention to sectarianism and violence under the Modi Govt. If Modi believes that he can do away with international scrutiny with a few well-crafted words, it doubly falls on national news sources to dispel misinformation and propaganda.
 
Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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The recent publication Bhed-Bharat provides a searing account of atrocities against dalits and adivasis between the years 2014 and 2018. The editor of the book, published in Gujarati and also available in English, is Martin Macwan, dalit human rights activist based in Gujarat and Founder-Member of the Navsarjan Trust. In a conversation with writer Githa Hariharan for the Indian Cultural Forum, Martin Macwan discusses the continuing – indeed escalating – injustice dalits and adivasis have been subjected to.

Githa Hariharan (GH): The first thing that struck me about the regional as well as state-wise organisation of the book is that dalits and adivasis have been at the receiving end of injustice across the country. And this is only from registered cases, and those reported in media – in other words, incomplete data.

Martin Macwan (MM): Yes, because of regionalisation of the media, a comprehensive picture of atrocities and injustice against dalits and adivasis has not emerged. Besides, what gets reported are only the sensational cases. Given the fact that there are so many abuses, they are perceived as if it is something “routine” – it does not disturb the conscience of the society at large.

Also, “atrocities” have, unfortunately, been confined to physical violence. What about the non-implementation of policies and measures? This marginalises these communities even more. I have noticed that English language newspapers do sometimes report on policy issues but not regional papers in local languages.

GH: So, on the whole, the media tends to limit itself to reporting the more violent, obvious, physical cases – what you are describing as sensational. What about government?

MM: We really do not see an attempt to present a comprehensive picture in the State assemblies and the Parliament. So it is difficult, even for enlightened dalits and adivasis, to strategise articulation or action. Besides, what gets presented in government reports are pure figures – which do not convey the human picture as the narratives in the book do. This is the context: most dalits and adivasis struggle for basic survival. Their condition makes it hard for them to know and understand the plight of their fellow community members across the country. So, for instance, a dalit from Gujarat may not even know that there are dalits in Assam or Mizoram.

Then there is the critical question of the veracity of atrocity figures. West Bengal with a dalit population of as much as 23 per cent does not report beyond 80-85 cases under the Atrocity Act. It is clear that facts are being suppressed. How do you explain the fact that the National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes report cases 20% higher than the cases reported by the National Crime Records Bureau? A related question is whether the police in local stations are friendly and sensitive enough to dalits and adivasis to help them register cases.

Besides, there are discriminatory practices in government institutions such as schools and anganwadis – which are mandated to inculcate the value of equality. There have been cases of rape, pregnancy and child birth involving minor Adivasi girls in Ashram Shalas that are specially financed and run for them. There have been deaths of Adivasi children in these Ashram Shalas.

GH: What about response from civil society, or from students and teachers? Do you find the same situation of the “blunted conscience” as you do in the media and in the government?

MM: Unfortunately, caste discrimination – mostly manifested through atrocities – has been generally perceived as the problem of dalits rather than the problem of the nation – though it is the biggest challenge to the Constitution of India and its core value of equality. Even in interaction with students and faculties of colleges and universities, I find they admit ignorance about such happenings. Most of their questions at the end of my talks are on reservation for dalits and adivasis, an irritant for them.

GH: Of course, this injustice / atrocity is a terrible old story in India. But this compilation between 2014-2018 — is this a continuation of the old story or does it indicate new forms of injustice? Atrocities?

MM: While atrocities against dalits and adivasis are not new, there are some features which are certainly “new”.
 

• The NDA made promises to both these communities during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but atrocities have continued. The government, over the last five years, claims enormous development in the country, but again, the facts on the ground do not show a reduction in atrocities against dalits and adivasis.
• One would think that with increase in education, urbanisation and modernisation there would be less caste prejudice and so a lower number of atrocities. But what we find is that caste discrimination co-exists with development in all its manifestations. The new generation of the so-called educated have protected their caste status.
• There has been a systematic growth in caste-based organisations as social, political and religious platforms. Applying sections of the Atrocity Act are especially difficult against a religious body. That would mean organised protests from the dominant caste groups.
• In the absence of research-based study and evidence, the Supreme Court strengthened prejudice in dominant castes through its order that the Act has been misused by dalits and adivasis. In a way, this was also used to justify the low conviction rate in the offences under the Atrocity Act.
• A striking unique feature emerges from Gujarat, the “model” state. Compared to a mere 7.01 percent dalit population (some sources say 6.7 percent), 32.9 percent of the total convicts in Gujarat is dalit. 23.4 percent of undertrials in Gujarat jails is dalit. What does this mean? That the community, by and large, are the most criminal community and not the victims of criminal abuse?
• A new feature is that minor girls are, increasingly, the targets of caste-based sexual abuse.
• From my experience, I have seen that the atrocities committed earlier were the result of blatant caste prejudice and the structure of social power in rural areas. Nowadays, we also see that many atrocities against dalits are committed because of jealousy. A dalit man is attacked for riding on a motorcycle. A young man is murdered by mowing him under motorcycles for playing an Ambedkar song as a ringtone. Or dalit college-going youth are assaulted for tucking their shirts in or for sporting a moustache.

GH: You point out that in spite of the NDA giving dalits and adivasis more seats, there has been an increase in atrocity cases since 2014. Is this linked with the consolidation of power of the right-wing across the board?

MM: On a larger note, we need to stress that the root causes of the atrocities are poverty, subjugation and social-economic powerlessness. Most atrocities are around the issues of land, wages and entitlements. While the State has confined its response merely to provide compensation, the social and economic inequalities have become pervasive and systemic. In 2010, Navsarjan conducted a study to map the prevalence of untouchability practices. This study, often quoted in assembly and parliamentary debates, found that in 90.2 of the 1589 surveyed villages in Gujarat, dalits who practise Hinduism are not allowed to enter temples. Hindutva organisations such as RSS have never dared to undertake agitation to ensure temple entry for Dalits even when they want them to remain Hindu. Religion has become a platform for political power in present times. Since untouchability is perceived as a creation of Hinduism, in the context of systemic nexus between political and religious (Hindu) power, there is no political will to address the question of untouchability. 

This also speaks of the complete ineffectiveness of the dalit and adivasi parliamentarians. Dr Ambedkar had foreseen this when he pursued the demand for a separate electorate for dalits, which he considered the best constitutional remedy to ensure effective political representation of Dalits. Those elected on reserved seats are more preoccupied with being advocates of their party and less with the urgent concerns of the community they are to represent. At the village level, often those dalits and adivasis who are elected as Sarpanch are laborers in the farm of the deputy Sarpanch.

GH: One concrete manifestation of this current nexus between “religious” and political power you speak of has been the rush of attacks by “cow vigilantes”. Could you comment on repercussions of these attacks on livelihood, food and nutrition, in addition to physical danger?

MM: The profitable business of the dead cow has been captured by the so-called dominant castes which make money out of the skin, bones, horns, and the tail hair. The waste is transformed into chicken feed — here too the dominant castes have captured a large share of the business. The fat often finds its way to the bakeries. But all these businesses and factories have never been the targets of the cow vigilantes.

Nor have the panjrapoles (animal-shelter homes) been on the radar of the so-called cow protectors. These panjrapoles flourished in Gujarat after Independence, especially because the agricultural lands held by them were declared exempt from coverage under the Agriculture Land Ceiling Act. It was a good program for many landlords to turn their agricultural land into “gaushala” to save the land from going away to landless dalits and adivasis under the Agricultural Ceiling Act. Besides, there is no audit on the number of cow deaths in these panjarapoles, the reasons for death, and the money earned by selling the dead cows.

While Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura had the most successful land reforms, Gujarat has had the most disastrous implementation of land reforms which was to benefit dalits and adivasis. True, the most successful land reforms post-Independence took place in Kathiawar State. Here, in a short span of four years, 3.75 million acres of land were transferred from the feudal castes to the present day patidars or Patel who were then considered shudra.

Dalits and adivasis have mostly been reduced to landless agricultural labourers. To survive in the rural areas, they are forced to stick to caste-based occupations such as manual scavenging and disposal of carcasses. In present times, with the soaring of land prices, the lands given to dalits for skinning the carcass have become a bone of contention. As it happened in Una, in the name of the cow protection, dalits are attacked to remove them from those pieces of land.   

There is another angle to the phenomenon of cow vigilantes. Under the influence of the Ambedkar-Phule ideology, dalits have invested a lot in education. Despite a poorly implemented reservation policy, they have been able to secure benefits in jobs. But OBC youth have little education and so, meagre employment opportunities. There is little ideological work done among them. Hence, their only “capital” is their caste – they can use it to get power when they are backed by politicians to make exhortations in the name of cow protection. More cows die eating plastic – but no one is concerned about that, neither these people nor the state.

GH: And the economic consequences of this nexus between caste and religion?

MM: True, this nexus has economic consequences for dalits and adivasis. There are several incidents recounted in Bhed-Bharat which show how social and economic boycott follows the atrocity incidents. Dalits and adivasis are then deprived of work, share cropping. They are denied places for defecation. They are denied credit, common village services, and much more. 

GH: Again, demonetisation and growing unemployment are among the problems we have faced in the last five years. In particular, what has this done to dalit and adivasi lives?

MM: I asked an adivasi man in a village about the impact of demonetisation on his family. He said there was no impact simply because he did not have a currency note. As for dalit women, they lost all their hard-earned savings they had saved for social occasions without the knowledge of their husbands, as the savings became public during demonetisaton.

Unemployment has been the major problem. With increased wages, farmers prefer wheat and paddy cutting machines in rural areas. The factories prefer migrant labour from other states to ensure they do not organise around labour rights. So labourers from each state are forced to migrate. Factory wages seem higher but they are not — as the working hours are often 12 instead of 8. Besides, employment is often based on the volume of work.

There have been more cases of caste confrontations in the factories as opportunities have reduced. Also, unemployment among the educated has been a sharper among dalits and adivasis – with no implantation or weak implementation of reservation. Too often, the burden of running the family has fallen on women. You can see them every day, carrying fodder on their heads to feed their animals and earn some supplementary income. 

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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The National Human Rights Commission has sought responses from the Chhattisgarh government on the anomalies by state officials, including police, over the alleged killing of seven persons and burning of houses by the now-disbanded Salwa Judum in Sukma district in 2007.

In a strongly worded communication dated October 26 to the chief secretary of the state, the rights body has asked it to respond within eight weeks. The communication of the NHRC may be read here. The incident pertains to the alleged burning of houses in Kondasawali, Kamaraguda and Karrepara villages and killing of seven villagers in 2007 by the special police officers (SPO) of Salwa Judum, a force created by the state to counter the Naxalite menace.

Responding to a complaint submitted by Sudha Bhardwaj, general secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the NHRC said it was “unimaginable and unacceptable” that the incidents, on which a report was filed only in 2013, did not come to the notice of the village/block/police post/police station level functionaries of Sukma district. The NHRC has commented adversely on the fact that though the officials knew of the incident soon after they had taken place, but deliberately turned a blind eye to them. Not taking cognisance of the incidents for seven years strongly showed that these crimes had been abetted by the district or state officials and indicated that they had indeed been committed by the SPOs of Jagarguda base camp, it said.The rights body also observed that the objective of the state machinery, both the police and the magistracy is not to ascertain the truth as is amply clear in the manner the investigation being conducted and the manner in which the Konta tehsildar has conducted his enquiry.

A mere reading of the tehsildar’s inquiry report and the statements recorded by the investigation officers shows that his objective is not to dig out the truth and that he is only conducting a cover-up operation.

“These acts of omission by the public servants of state of Chhattisgarh constitute a gross violation of human rights of the deceased residents of village Kondasawali, Kamaraguda and Karrepara and of those residents of these villages whose houses/huts were burnt,” the NHRC observed. However, before it took a final view in the matter, it had decided to seek responses from the Chhattisgarh government to explain the anomalies of the officials. The commission also know the name of patwaries, naib tehsildar, tehsildar, block development officers and other officers who were posted in this region from 2007 to 2013, it said.

Background

In 2013, the villagers of Village Kondasawali, Police Station Jagargunda, district Sukma, Bastar Divison, Chhattisgarh had lodged a complaint with the Collector regarding the fact that a few years before that, in 2007, some SPOs and Salwa Judum leaders had come to their village, burnt 95 huts in three settlements in their panchayat, killed 7 people, and threatened the villagers against telling anyone about these incidents.  The villagers had been forced to leave their village after the arson attacks, and had only come back to the village after the end of Salwa Judum. In 2013, they (villagers) wrote a complaint asking for compensation and investigation to the Collector and NHRC, which was subsequently taken up by the Chhattisgarh PUCL and forwarded to the NHRC. The said complaint was registered with the NHRC as Case No. 657/33/3/2013.
 
Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, being General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh PUCL and the complainant in Case No. 657/33/3/2013 received a letter from the National Human Rights Commission dated June 16, 2017 in respect of the aforesaid case directing her to gather further information in the complaint which was filed on 22.08.2013 and for that purpose visit the villages under Gram Panchayat Kondasawali, Police Station Jagargunda, Block Konta, District Sukma, Chhattisgarh. She assigned JK Vidhya, Delhi and Soni Sori, on her behalf to visit the concerned area and gather information in regard to the case. Vidhya and Soni along with two other male companions, an interpreter, two journalists and the Personal Security Officer assigned to Ms Soni Sori were able to undertake the visit to the villages on 21^st-22^nd August 2017.  After which video testimonies of the villagers along with a report was submitted last month to the NHRC. It is following this complaint that the NHRC had passed the October 26 order.
 
In this order, the  Commission concludes that these incidents had come to the notice of police, revenue and other officials of District Sukma soon after they had taken place but police and district officials had deliberately turned a blind eye to these killings and incidents of arson.

 Further the NHRC states that ” In fact, the omission by the state and district Sukma Officer to take cognizance of these incidents for seven years is also a very strong circumstance to show that these crimes had been abetted by the district officials of Sukma/or state government officials of the State of Chhattisgarh.”
 
Besides, “This willful omission of taking cognizance of these incidents for such a long period is also a very strong circumstance indicative of the fact that these ghastly crimes had been committed by the SPOs of Jagarguda base camp as has been alleged by the complainant of case FIR No.10/2013 P.S. Jagarguda.
 
Thus, says the NHRC, “That the objective of the state machinery, both the police and the magistracy is not to ascertain the truth about these incidents but to gloss over these crimes is also amply clear in the manner the investigation of case FIR No.10/2013 P.S. Jagarguda is being conducted and the manner in which the Tehsildar, Konta, District Sukma has conducted his enquiry. A mere reading of the enquiry report of Tehsildar Konta and the statements recorded by the I.O. shows that his objective is not at all to dig out the truth and that he is only conducting a cover up operation. These acts of omission by the public servants of State of Chhattisgarh constitute a gross violation of human rights of the deceased residents of village Kondasawali, Kamaraguda and Karrepara and of those residents of these villages whose houses/huts were burnt.”
 
Detailed Context of the Complaint
 In 2013, the villagers of Village Kondasawali, Police Station Jagargunda, district Sukma had lodged a complaint with the Collector regarding the fact that a few years before that, some SPOs and Salwa Judum leaders had come to their village, burnt 95 huts in three settlements in their panchayat, killed 7 people, and threatened the villagers against telling anyone about these incidents.  The villagers had been forced to leave their village after the arson attacks, and had only come back to the village after the end of Salwa Judum. With the situation improving, they felt confident enough to write this complaint to the Collector, which was subsequently taken up by the Chhattisgarh PUCL and forwarded to the NHRC. The said complaint was registered with the NHRC as Case No. 657/33/3/2013.
 
The undersigned, Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, being General Secretary of the Chhattisgarh PUCL and the complainant in Case No. 657/33/3/2013 received a letter from the National Human Rights Commission dated 16.06.2017 in respect of the aforesaid case directing me to gather further information in the complaint which was filed on 22.08.2013 and for that purpose visit the villages under Gram Panchayat Kondasawali, Police Station Jagargunda, Block Konta, District Sukma, Chhattisgarh.
 
Since I do not reside in their area, after making some preliminary enquiries, I wrote to Ms Sumedha Dwivedi, SSP NHRC on August 2, 2017 that I had been able to get the assistance of Ms JK Vidhya, Researcher and Ms Soni Sori, social activist and HRD and would depute them on my behalf to visit the concerned area and gather information in regard to the case.
 
Owing to various reasons including heavy rains, difficulty in arranging transport and intermittent inaccessibility owing to security operations in the area, Ms JK Vidhya and Ms Soni Sori along with two other male companions, an interpreter, two journalists and the Personal Security Officer assigned to Ms Soni Sori were able to undertake the visit to the villages only on August 21-22, 2017. I informed the Superintendent of Police of Dantewada and Sukma regarding the visit and requested their co-operation in the same.
 
Prior Information Available with Complainant
The present complainant had filed her complaint regarding burning of about 95 houses and killing of 7 persons in Gram Panchayat Kondasawali on behalf of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Chhattisgarh Branch on 5^th September 2013.

This complainant was a follow up of the original complaint of the then Sarpanch of Kondasawali made to the Collector on July 12, 2013, a copy of which had also been sent to the NHRC. The PUCL had been especially concerned because after the then Sarpanch had submitted his complaint to the Collector, Ms Barse Nande w/o Barse Nanda (s/o Lati) aged about 37 was attacked and killed by security forces on 13^th August 2013. She had been one of the complainants whose husband had been killed. Hence the PUCL, feeling that the complaint of the villagers might have invited retribution, felt the need to take up the case with the NHRC.

A delegation of the PUCL also met the Inspector General of Police and Commissioner, Bastar Division, Jagdalpur on September 13, 2013 and apprised them of the case. (Copies of the representations made are collectively annexed hereto as Annexure 1)

Further, when lawyer members of the PUCL in Jagdalpur followed up the case through RTI they obtained the following information:-

1. That on November 19, 2013, the Additional Collector, Sukma had written to the SP Sukma requesting for a copy of the FIR registered as well as the details of the loss of property so that a proper reply could be sent to the NHRC.
2. That after this, the complaint was first registered as a zero FIR at Police Station Chintalnar and subsequently transferred to Police Station Jagargunda as FIR No. 10/013 dated November 23, 2013.
3. That however, till July 11, 2014, the Additional Collector Sukma had not been able to disburse any compensation in regard to the killings to their families, ostensiblysince the Death Certificate and Post Mortem Reports of the deceased had not been made available. The Collector/ Additional Collector had written to the Superintendent of Police, Sukma on April 21, 2014 and July 11, 2014 requesting him to send these documents expeditiously.
4. That also it is apparent from his correspondence with the Sub Divisional Officer, Kontathat, till August 4, 2014, the Additional Collector Sukma had also not disbursed any monetary compensation for the losses of property. Letters of 26.07.2014 and 04.08.2014 from the Additional Collector to the SDM state that the names of the victims do not appear in the Electoral Rolls or List of Ration Cards, and exhort the SDM to provide a list of legal heirs of the deceased, their death certificates, post mortem reports, clear recommendation and opinion regarding grant of economic assistance, and signed panchnama of the affected people.
5. That on September 17, 2014 the Superintendent of Police, Sukma wrote to the NHRC stating the following:-

1. That after registration of Crime No. 10/013 dated 23.11.2013 every possible effort had been made for the identification, search and arrest of the “unknown armed persons” responsible for the killing.
2. That the complainant and other victims had not requested for any “police protection” or complained of any “Naxal threat” or “Naxal incident”. It was not possible to give them any protection unless they shifted to the Relief Camp at Jagargunda Base Camp of the security forces.
3. That because of the lack of Death Certificates it was not possible to provide compensation for the deceased. The SHO, Police Station Jagargunda had written to the Sarpanch/ Sachiv of Gram Panchayat Kondasawali to provide the same on September 8, 2014. The SHO, Police Station Jagargunda had also written to the Tehsildar Konta on September 8, 2014 to provide the Schematic Map of the area where the incidents had taken place.

1. There had been no further in the matter since then.

The documents provided to a lawyer of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group and a member of PUCL under the Right to Information Act by the Public Information Officer of the Collector, Sukma are annexed hereto collectively as Annexure 2.

The Team
The members of the team belonged to various places and came from a range of backgrounds. This was the constitution of the fact-finding team:

1. Soni Sori, r/o Geedam, district Dantewada, human rights defender;
2. Lingaram Kodopi, r/o Village Sameli, district Dantewada, human rights defender;
3. J K Vidhya, r/o Delhi, research student;
4. Sukul Prasad, r/o Village Matenar, district Dantewada, human rights defender;

and

1. Danti Poyim, r/o Dantewada, interpreter.

The above team members were accompanied by:
1. Pushpa Rokde, journalist;
2. Nitin Rokde, journalist;
3. Soni Sori’s guard and PSO.
 
Methodology Followed by the Team
On the August 21, 2017, the fact-finding team of four people, an interpreter, two journalists and a PSO went to Kondasawali gram panchayat. This team of eight persons travelled from Dantewada town towards Palnar, crossing several CRPF camps, including Aranpur, and reached the border of Dantewada-Sukma district. The CRPF camps crossed housed the 111st Battalion at Aranpur and the final CRPF camp at the border was 231^st Battalion. The team left Dantewada at 1 pm and reached the border at approximately 3 pm. En route, the team, which was travelling in private vehicles, was stopped twice – once at the Aranpur camp and once again at the 231^st Battalion camp. At the Aranpur check post, each member stated their name and 5 members gave their phone numbers to the CRPF guards posted. At the final CRPF camp, the team was stopped and after instructions from higher authorities, the members were allowed to move further. The road has been constructed only up till the camp. The team members parked their vehicles near the camp and proceeded on foot. The general instruction was to continue walking ahead through the forest for another two kilometres in order to reach Kondasawali village.

The team climbed down approximately 800 feet or 300 meters down the hill and reached the foot of the hill. On not finding a clear path, and without any natural indicators visible due to rainfall and cloudy skies, the team proceeded through the forest looking for a clear path to follow towards the village of Kondasawali. After walking through the forest for over two hours, along a nala or stream, anticipating possible habitation along or at the end of the stream, the team reached a point where a man was grazing his cattle. This man indicated a suitable path to follow in order to reach the village of Kondasawali. After walking for another hour the team reached the edge of the village of the Kondasawali Gram Panchayat but had to walk another hour before it reached the Kondasawali settlements. En route, the team introduced themselves as members of a team trying to reach the village of Kondasawali on the instructions of the National Human Rights Commission regarding the incident of killing and burning reported in a complaint made by the then Sarpanch of Kondasawali, Sandam Sannu.

The team reached the Kondasawali settlementat around 7:30 pm and the villagers allowed them to rest at one of their homes. They appealed to them to call the then Sarpanch of Kondasawali. In half an hour, the ex Sarpanch reached where the team conveyed to him that they were a team of people sent to talk to the complainants, record the testimonies and report back to the National Human Rights Commission on the basis of the complaint written by the villagers as well as by Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj of PUCL on the behalf of the people of Kondasawali. On hearing the purpose, the ex Sarpanch told the team to wait while he sent word to others in the various paras of Kondasawali Gram Panchayat. He told the team that the next morning (22^nd August) he would be able to reach out to the rest of the villagers. The team stayed the night at the very same home.

The next morning, the team waited to hear back from the ex Sarpanch and the rest of the village. The ex Sarpanch had indicated that this would take time for two reasons – there were several paras within the gram panchayat that were fairly far apart and sending word to each one would take time, and secondly, it was raining and that had been and would be a serious impediment to quick communication between the paras regarding our visit. The team waited at the house and conveyed to the villagers that they were open to simply talking to them, or if they permitted us, they could take detailed notes, and they could record their testimonies as audio recordings, or best yet, if they would allow the team to record their testimonies on camera for the NHRC to see.

By 12:30 pm the next day, the ex Sarpanch sent word that all the family members of those killed in 2009-10 as well as the 2013 incident, as well as some members of each para where homes were burnt had congregated at a common ground in a part of the village that was a short distance away. The team walked for half an hour and reached this common area. They found that approximately 300 people of the Kondasawali Gram Panchayat had congregated there and the crowd was slowly growing in size.

After a brief discussion with everyone present, it was decided that each person who lost a family member during the incidents in 2009-10 and 2013 would testify on camera. Following their testimony, all those present from the three paras where homes were burnt would testify collectively on camera. And finally, after that, all those present could speak up if they wished to do so. The order of those who testified was as mentioned chronologically in the original complaint dated July 12, 2013 to the Collector of Sukma. The videos of the entire testimonies (Videos A and B)are being submitted along with the Report and their summary is provided below.

Following the individual testimonies of the family members of those killed as well as the group testimonies of those whose homes were burnt, the team got to hear from the women in the village, the ex Sarpanch and even a collective demand put forward by the villagers after discussing amongst themselves once they got to know of the purpose of the team’s visit. This allowed the team a wide range of views across the gram panchayat, men, women and children, across ages, as well as a sense of the collective condition of the village. The testimony of the ex Sarpanch has been videographed as well as the reading out of the collective demand letter (Videos C and D respectively). These videos are also being submitted along with this Report and their summary is being provided below.

After recording all these testimonies, the team promised to find a way to communicate with the villagers the response of the NHRC at the earliest, and proceeded back to the home where they had spent the night. On the way back, the team crossed a small shed where a girl of not more than 8 or 9 years was lying on the floor with a paste of wild medicinal herbs all over her legs. On enquiring the team found out that a few days before we arrived, this young girl had been burnt by the bonfire lit each night. Her injuries appeared extremely serious and since she had no parents, her grandmother, her only relative was distraught. As the team could not help in any way at that time, they expressed their concern and conveyed to her that her best course of action would be to proceed to Jagargunda for medical care, it was clear that there was no primary health care available in the village. During the visit the team observed a few aspects of the Kondasawali village that were striking. The team crossed four hand pumps and tube wells but all of them were broken or in shambles, the people were using the accumulated rain water in and around the Jora nala as drinking water.  There was no school in the entire panchayat. The people of the village lived in very meagre conditions and consumed whatever they produced. There was no means of immediate communication with Jagargunda or any other part of the district, all routes in and out of the village were kachha, and motorized vehicles, with the possible exception of motorbicycles, could not move in the area.

Finally, the team returned to the home where they had stayed the night and bid the villagers farewell. A few of the young members of the village agreed to help the team find the shortest route back to the camp at the top of the hill. The team started their journey back around 4 pm and after a long walk and a strenuous climb back up the steep hill, reached the camp at around 7:30 pm. The team got on the bikes and returned to Sameli village, where they stayed the night, and proceeded back to Dantewada the next morning.

It is not at all surprising that almost all members of the team became severely ill after this trip. Ms Soni Sori and Mr Sukul Nag had to be hospitalised. Ms Vidhya was diagnosed with malaria of the falciparum type. The journalists Pushpa Rokde and Nitin Rokde were also ill. This shows the precarious conditions of health villagers are surviving in. It was also the reason for delay in submission of the instant report.
 

Testimonies of the Dead (Video A)
1.Madvi Bhima (killed 2009-10)
Family member: Wife – Masa, approximately 35-36 years old from Patelpara.
After spending nearly twenty years in jail, Madvi Bhima had finally returned in 2009-10 and the husband and wife had gone to tend to their land. After tending to their land, they left their cattle and were on their way home. When they were about to reach home, 60-70 people together arrived, fired at them, and killed him.

There was no prior warning. They were passing the hill and suddenly this firing happened. Masa returned home.
Since this incident, there has been no communication with the police, forces or any official. No one came to visit to enquire. Since the incident, the forces, police, or Salwa Judum has not harassed them.
She lives alone as her two daughters are married and have moved to other villages.
 
She says she has lost her husband and does not have any more children to care for and says that those who killed her husband should know that she strives to put in jail all those responsible for killing her husband. The perpetrators should be punished, she says.
She has nothing more to say to the NHRC.
 
2.Barse Nanda (killed 2009-10) and Barse Nande (killed 2013)
Family member: Son – Barse Somru, approximately 16 years old.
In 2009-10, his father had left the field for the day and was at home. The force that attacked first shut the door, fired at him and even hacked him with the chisel. In 2013, his mother had gone to graze the cows near Jagargunda and she was killed there.
 
The people who killed his father in 2009-10 include the following who are part of the police: Masa from Targude, Bhima from Janagude, Anda from Kamareguda. These three were SPOs.
He doesn’t know who killed his mother in 2013 as she was near Jagargunda grazing cows when she was killed. But he knows it was the police.
Since 2013, there has been no contact with any police, official or member of the armed force.
After losing his father and mother, he is living with his uncle’s son (his elder brother – cousin).
His demand is that the perpetrators should be punished. He has nothing more to say to the NHRC.
 
3.Barse Suklu (killed 2009-10)
Family member: son – Barse Nanda, approximately 18 years old from Karrepara.
In the incident that took place in 2009-10, his father was killed in the evening at around 4 pm.The police (SPOs) fired at him. The force came in large numbers during the time of Salwa Judum.After the incident, no one has tried to contact him and he has no information. There are four sons in the family, an elder brother, him and two younger brothers. They all still live in Karrepara. Those who have perpetrated this should be dismissed from their jobs and they should be punished.
He has nothing more to say to the NHRC.
 
4.Kunjam Boda (killed 2009-10)
Family member: son – Joga, in his twenties, from Karrepara.
In 2009-10, his father had gone to collect Mahua. While doing that he was met with Anda, Bhima and Masa. These three brought more SPOs with them along with the force. They chased him and fired at him, killing him on the spot.
He recognises three of them but estimates that roughly there were 60-80 members in the force that attacked his father and the village.
He may not be able to recognise Anda, but he would be able to recognise Bhima and Masa. Since he was young when it happened, he isn’t confident he can recognise all of them definitely.
On that day, many were in their fields or collecting Mahua. This included old, young and even children. When the firing started, everyone ran away. Some ran to their homes, and others, to the hills. So, it’s hard for anyone to fully identify everyone who came.
Since the incident, no one has contacted him.
He felt that those three he recognised, at least, should be removed from their jobs and punished, as till those three exist, it will be a tough time for his village and its people as they are the ones who bring the force to the village.
 
5.Sudam Bhima (killed 2009-10) and Sudam Bhima (killed 2009-10)
Family member – Mangru – father of one Sudam Bhima and uncle of  the other from Patelpara (Parlegatta).
Wife’s name is Sanni. Ages of both young men were approximately 18-21 and both were married.
The young men were working on the local patel’s field along with him. In the morning the force came, picked them up and took them to Jagargunda. They were killed in Jagurgunda but he doesn’t know how they were killed (was it firing or some other means). He was never handed over the bodies and the two are still considered untraceable.
On the day the force came to burn the homes, that very day the young men were taken to Jagargunda. All three of them were in the field while their wives were at home. The force that came took the young men and told him to take his cows home and told him that they will take the young men to Jagurgunda and then leave them.
He has had no contact with any official since the incident and the young men were taken away. They used to come and beat the villagers up, roughly two hundred villagers have been beaten up, and so there is fear among all the villagers. So, they run at the sight of police and they don’t have any information.
He lost one of his daughters in law and now lives with his wife and the other daughter in law.
He says, they killed his young family members and now he doesn’t need cows. He can’t have children or grandchildren. So he has no needs. He just demands that those who did this be removed from their jobs punished and be given the death penalty.
He has nothing more to say to the NHRC.
 
6.Midyam Aiti (killed 2009-10)
Family member: uncle – Malla, her father Somru has died and was his elder brother from Kamarpara, Parlegatta para.
His brother’s daughter along with a friend had gone to the jungle to collect Basta (fresh bamboo shoot). Her friend managed to escape but she got caught in the firing. The force that came took her body away with them and never returned it.
He doesn’t think she was raped, as it seems she was fired at and the other girl had managed to run away. The SPOs and the force did the firing. When the incident happened, the rest of the family was at home. When they reached the spot, they (the force) had taken her body away.
The force used to come but every time they saw the force, they ran to the forests, as whoever was caught by them was badly beaten – irrespective of age or gender. So, in the meantime, they have not talked to any police, force or SPOs.
Aiti’s mother and father are both dead and besides her uncle, no one else from her family is alive.An adivasi man Madiyam Bhima was an SPO who fired first and then the rest of the force fired. This they found out later. He said he would be able to identify him as before he joined as the SPO, he belonged to their family.
He demands that the perpetrators be punished and they be removed from their jobs.He had nothing further to add.
                                                                                          
Testimonies of the Victims of Home Arson (Video B)
1.Karrepara There were 40 homes in Karrepara. After the coming of the SalwaJudum to the area in 2006-7, the SPOs and force came to the village and lit the homes on fire and moved on. Since then, all the people of Karrepara ran away out of fear. Besides their homes, all their grains, rice were taken or burnt. Cows, buffaloes, goats were confiscated by the forces and taken away. The people of the village had run away to the foot of the hill and spent time talking amongst themselves about what they should do.
Since 2006 till 2010, all of them stayed in the forest. They couldn’t get any food or water and so they asked people in nearby villages to help them and spent their days living on the food provided by these villagers. They used to eat the Kanda found in the jungles and survived those years.
They lived in the forest till 2010. They dared to return to their land from 2011-2 onwards and slowly each one spent time returning to their homes and had started rebuilding their homes. This they did by 2013-4. They started rebuilding their families and started tilling their land and slowly over a period of time they have resettled in their own land.
They refuse to leave their land. They struggled in the forest for many years, eating whatever they could find, they worked in Bailadila and Andhra and whatever they earned there, they used for food and water to survive. They know they won’t get  land anywhere else and know they can’t leave this land. So, they have returned and all the people of the village have decided that they won’t give away their land.
From 2006 to 2009, the people of the village faced a lot of violence at the hands of the Salwa Judum. Anyone who was found, old or young, men or women, even children were regularly picked up and beaten and harassed. At that time their entire para was empty and everyone lived in the forest. The force and SPOs had taken their cows, buffaloes and cattle and they had nothing with them.
The implements and cultural objects they had, the things they had collected for people’s marriages, drums, gold, silver, money and other such things were also taken away. The homes were burnt, looted and destroyed. Between 2006 and 2007, their homes were burned.
When the 7 people were killed in different parts of Kondasawali in 2009-10, the homes in the villages had already been burnt. When the killing happened villagers were gradually trying to move back to their homes. Among the things looted – pigs, chicken, goats, cattle, musical instruments, utensils, and anything the people had was taken away.
The people of Karrepara have now returned to Karrepara. All the gold, silver and things they had saved up since the time of their grandfathers, fathers and for several generations were taken away by the SPOs and the force. The people of the village feel that what is the point of asking the people who looted everything they had for compensation? The people feel that the suffering experienced by the people of Karrepara, the perpetrators should experience the same suffering and should be prosecuted for their crimes. This is their main demand from the NHRC.
Despite all this happening, they don’t know what the perpetrators will face. But they feel that the force and the SPOs should not come back to their village.

2. Kamaraguda In one day, 45 homes were burnt in 2006. The few that were left standing, the SPOs and forces returned and burnt them too. First they looted the homes, took away gold, silver and anything valuable in it, then, killed the cattle and took some away with them, and then, set the homes on fire.
The SPOs and force came together to the village and as soon as they came, started beating people up, most of the villagers ran away to the forest. When they were hiding in the forest, the SPOs and forces looted and burnt down their homes. So, they don’t clearly know how many came during this attack on the village.
After the attack on their village, they stayed in the forest for some years. They asked neighbouring villages for help and survived by working nearby.
The number of families that lived in the village is unclear. They couldn’t fully account for everyone as some ran to the forest and others went to Andhra. So, the exact details are unclear.
Since the situation appeared to improve after 2011 or so, the people started returning to their village by 2013-4 and rebuilt their homes and are now living there. Now there are 35 families (homes) in Kamaraguda that have been recently built. 45 were burnt.
When the 7 people of Kondasawali gram panchayat were killed, the people of Kamaraguda were either coming back to the village from the forest or still in the forest.
They saw the forces and SPOs burn their homes but as they ran away they won’t be able to identify anyone individually. Those who killed the people also quickly vanished.
The people who burnt the homes included people who belonged to Salwa Judum, SPOs and the force. They are able to identify three people specifically who were SPOs who brought the force to the village – Bhima aka Ramesh of Talaguda, Andal and Masa. They don’t know any of the others.
Now they are afraid of the forces who continue to harass them, detain them, and when they run away to the forest, declare them Naxals. Besides this, they have no other grievance.

3.Kondasawali In 2006-7, 40 homes were burnt in Kondasawali. SPOs and forces burnt the homes. They used to come from behind the hill and enter the village and on the way back, they did the same and burnt more homes. The number of homes in Kondasawali has come down since then as when the villagers ran away to the forest and spent some years there, some of them lost their lives to snake bites and animal attacks as well as disease and ill health, some even went away to Andhra.
The people of Kondasawali started returning 3-4 years back and have rebuilt their homes.
 They (SPOs and forces) looted their homes, took away their gold and silver, even took away their cots, their rice, cattle, and whatever they could not take away, they burnt it.
They (the villagers) have not had any contact with the police or the administration of the state in the meantime but recently, the CRPF took two children, roughly 7-9 years of age, and detained them in their camp. This happened this year (2017) in June-July. They were taken to the Kondaguda camp near Palnar. The women of Kondasawali gram panchayat gheraoed the camp and got the children released. They don’t know why the children were taken. The children had gone fishing and they picked up the children with the fish they caught that day.
The force and SPOs still come on occasion at night, search for people and leave. They come at night expecting to catch people in meetings with Naxalites.They don’t come to investigate regarding the case or for anything official during the day. They only come at night and leave at night itself.
 
Testimony of the Erstwhile Sarpanch of Sundam Sannu
(One of the original complainants)(Video C) (Translation from Gondi)
In 2013 we had told (the authorities) that Salwa Judum should not be sent here. That a camp should not be setup here. We cannot go anywhere leaving our agriculture and land here. We cultivate here, we gather forest produce. Bhima and Sannu of Silenger; Handa and Masa of Jagargunda have caused us a lot of harm. Because of the camp at Aranpur, people are facing a lot of problem and harassment. We do agriculture on our lands, we cannot give our land to set up a camp. We were not in the village for 3-4 years, we were in the forest, we had run away there. When we came back, the camp people starting harassing us. When we came back there was nothing, there was nothing left in the village. We are surviving with great difficulty. We have rebuilt our houses. Where will be go leaving our houses, our families, our village?
 
Collective demands of the Villagers of the Gram Panchayat (Video D)
The villagers of Gram Panchayat Kondasawali gathered together and prepared a list of demands. They read out these demands in public which has also been recorded by the team. The team assured the villagers that the same would be conveyed to the NHRC though they did not all strictly pertain to the complaint that the team had come to enquire into. The said demands are reproduced verbatim in translation below:-
“1.       Those who have killed our brothers and sisters should be removed from their jobs and punished for their actions.
2.         The CRPF and police should not come into our village and beat up the villagers. In a village where the people are farming and surviving on their own, they should not be harassed in this manner. The people of the village should be allowed to live peacefully on their own lands.
3.         We do not want camps near our village. This is because the CRPF forces catch anyone moving around their own land and accuses them of being Naxalites. This is restricting our movement on our own land. Thus, we do not want the camps.
4.         Those who are responsible for the atrocities committed on the people of Kondasawali are the following – Madkam Bhima known as Bhima here and Ramesh now as part of the SPOs belonging to Junaguda village, Sundam Masa from Tarlaguda, Madvi Anda known as Anda here and Rakesh as part of the SPOs from Kamaraguda, Sodi Dasru from Miliampalli, Kosa Deva from Singer. These are the people who have been responsible for pushing the most marginalised of our village to absolute misery. They should be punished.”

Observations

1. People of the Kondasawali Gram Panchayat are prepared to testify.

It was evident from the manner in which the villagers responded to the team that both the relatives of the deceased and those who suffered and observed the burning of houses are ready to testify and are still very keen to pursue their efforts for justice.
This is very significant given the fact that the villagers have faced one more murder after the complaint was submitted to the Collector, and that they have not got any relief in the past 4 years rather they have faced apathy, harassment and hostility.
However it is very possible that the non-threatening manner in which the team approached them; the team being accompanied by well-known social workers like Soni Sori, Lingaram and Sukul Nag; and the fact that there was a non-threatening interpreter to render their expression verbatim were also important factors in such co-operation.   2. The lack of documentation cannot be used to deny justice to these villagers. It is equally clear that they have lost whatever documentation they might have earlier had, in the arson of their homes and during the period of their displacement. They do not possess death certificates, post mortem reports, election identity cards, or ration cards. However this reason alone cannot be the ground for denying the truth of the incidents they have suffered and rejecting their demands for justice.
   2. The incidents of arson and murder do not appear to be isolated but rather a strategy to displace the villagers from the area. After the incidents of murder and arson these villagers spent several years in extreme hardship in the forests. They lost many family members to illness, snake bites etc. They have repeatedly tried to return to their land and rebuild their homes. Whatever rebuilding they have achieved is through their own extremely hard labour.
This is also probably why there is no demand for compensation now, as originally voiced by them in 2013.They are only stressing that they want the persons who murdered their family members to be punished.
       3. From among the members of the force who murdered their family members and burnt their houses, the people recognise several SPOs. In the testimonies given by the villagers it is clear that large groups of the security forces had attacked and burnt their villages. However the people could recognise some of the adivasi SPOs who used to belong to nearby villages or are distantly related to them. It is apparent that these persons are being used as the lowest rung in the force and are carrying out the most brutal of atrocities. This very much vindicates the understanding of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Nandini Sundar case when it had prohibited the use of such adivasi youth in counter insurgency operations. Despite the villagers recognising these SPOs, most of whom are surrendered Naxals, not only are they not being punished, but rather they are known to be rewarded for their role in encounters, arrests and surrenders; thus incentivizing brutality on their part.
   4. People feel that the police and administration is hostile and they are afraid of interacting with them since in their experience it has only increased their repression. No efforts whatsoever seem to have been made by the administration and police to record the statements of the relatives of the victims, to assess the damage they have suffered or try to assist them in rebuilding their houses and livelihoods. Even their sources of water and livelihood are of their own making. There have also been no efforts of the administration to provide them with necessary documents to substantiate their case. On the other hand, admittedly, the attitude of the police and administration is that they cannot approach these villages without 150-200 armed security personnel, as if they have assumed the villagers to be dangerous Naxals.   
   5.People from all the villages expressed their apprehensions from the nearby camps People from Karrepara told the team that currently there are several camps in the hills surrounding the village. The people of the village generally avoid the camps, particularly the young men and women. If anyone is spotted by the CRPF they said,then they are harassed, interrogated, stopped and threatened with dire consequences. Those who are returning to the villages, the CRPF calls them Naxalwadi.
 The villagers feel that the CRPF camps are not doing anything for their safety. In fact, when the villagers go to till their field they carry their sickle or to the forest to forage and hunt they carry their axe and bow and arrow, and when the CRPF see these with the villagers they harass them, beat them up and chase them away. Moreover, the CRPF attack the villagers even when they go out to the forest for latrine, and even attack them when they are bathing in the stream nearby. When people travel to visit their family or go the market to sell their wares, the CRPF harasses and beats them up. Thus, the camps are affecting their everyday movement and they wish it would be moved away from here.
 Similarly villagers of Kamaraguda expressed to the team that they feel that they don’t want the camps nearby as the more the camps there are, the more they will be harassed. They said that the camp in Jagargunda is enough and they wanted this to be conveyed to the NHRC.
 Villagers from Kondasawali also told the team that the camp on top of the hill should be removed and moved to the Jagurgunda camp. This is because when people go to the foothills for basta (bamboo shoots) and other things, the CRPF misbehaves with them, particularly the women, whom the CRPF sexually harasses as well. 
The villagers have heard that one more such camp will be set up soon and this is something they are against as when they travel in and around the area carrying their sickle and axe from their fields and back, they are picked up by the CRPF and harassed, accused of being Naxalites, beaten, killed or jailed on trumped up charges. That’s why they appeal to the NHRC to stop the setting up of such camps. They said they don’t know why these camps are set up and it isn’t for their security.
Some years ago, four of their villagers were picked up from the marketplace and accused of being Naxalites and jailed. Two were released while two are still in jail. They are fighting for their release. They appeal to the NHRC to look into this matter as well. The two in jail are Kosal s/o Sannu and Bhima s/o Bhida in Dantewada jail. They don’t know on what charges. The SPOs picked them up from the marketplace. 5 more people from Talaguda gram panchayat nearby were recently also picked up in this manner and taken to Jagargunda camp a year and half ago.
      6. Women seem to have experienced frequent cases of sexual harassment and sexual violence at the hands of security forces. The women did not speak individually to the team but collectively. Ms Soni Sori interpreted the conversation. This is a gist of what they spoke.
Our houses have been burnt, our cattle, all our belongings have been burnt, even the utensils. We will work and survive. We don’t want money from the government but we will not give our land. We don’t want a camp in our village. Please tell the authorities that the police people harass us a lot. We do not want a camp in Kondasawali village, we are all opposing it. The camp people come to our village and give us a lot of trouble. They threaten us and sexually molest and rape us. Even if we go to the bazaar they harass us. We feel afraid of going to the forest. If the camp is set up in the village, they will catch us, beat us and rape us. (When the team asked how many women had faced such a situation) they said that about 50 women in that Panchayat had been raped, some had been killed also. They said they felt very afraid to venture out anywhere.
It was not the mandate of the team to investigate into the details of these incidents of sexual molestation and rape. However the team came away with a distinct impression that the women have suffered greatly on this count and these cases also required to be followed up. If so directed by the NHRC, the complainant can attempt to do the same.
       7. The villagers are experiencing restriction on their normal life activities and mobility in the hostile environment created by the camps. The villagers are unable to access the forest, carry implements for agriculture or hunting, go to markets, celebrate traditional festivals, visit relatives or attend marriages; in short they are not able to conduct their lives in a normal and peaceful manner because of the hostile environment of the camps surrounding them. They have faced brutal violence in the past and are still extremely apprehensive of the same.

Suggestions
1.         The fact that the atrocities spelt out in the complaint were indeed committed on the people of Kondasawali Gram Panchayat has been corroborated and the people of Kondasawali are willing to testify to the fact.
2.         It is clear that there has been no positive assistance from the district administration and the police and security forces to the people of Kondasawali, rather the villagers have suffered apathy, harassment and outright hostility from them. Thus we suggest that the Investigation Wing of the NHRC immediately undertake an independent investigation of the same to ensure justice to the victims, rather than leaving it to the state authorities.
3.         That in carrying out such investigation, we suggest that the NHRC team should preferably not be accompanied by heavy armed force or members of the local force and SPOs who have been themselves perpetrators of atrocities.
4.         We suggest that the NHRC team requires to take into account that the villagers of Kondasawali have once lost all their properties and documents in arson of their houses, have been forced to take refuge in jungles and have only recently rebuilt their homes. It is thus not practicable to expect them to possess documentary evidence of their identities. The NHRC will therefore have to work out some other mechanism such as relying upon the statements of the erstwhile and present Sarpanch, and elders of the village or neighbouring villages etc. to verify the same.
5.         That the experience of many villagers who have tried to file cases against the security forces has been that they have been foisted with false cases, and the villagers in Kondasawali also apprehend the same. While they have been brave enough to state their testimonies on video, they are apprehensive that such videos, if handed to the local authorities, might result in the deponents being implicated in false Naxal cases.  Thus it is requested that the NHRC keep the videos accompanying the Report confidential, closely monitor the situation in the Gram Panchayat Kondasawali and direct that the police and the security forces inform the NHRC prior to any detention, interrogation, arrest, or other operation of the security forces in the said village.
6.         That in punishing the perpetrators in particular, the NHRC should also consider the role played by SPOs, particularly surrendered Naxals, in general in the counter insurgency operations and advise the State Government in this regard.
7.         That the team had observed that while in our criminal justice system, a crime is seen to be committed against individuals, by individuals, and is testified to by individuals; adivasi people are used to deciding and acting collectively. Thus it would be important to respect their collective will and gain their trust in order to work to provide justice to individuals.
8.         Finally, the NHRC is urged to communicate with the complainants (namely the original complainant Sundam Sannu and the present complainant) regularly and ensure that they are kept informed about any progress in the case in the coming days.
Submitted by: Sudha Bharadwaj, General Secretary, Chhattisgarh PUCL, JK Vidhya, Researcher, member PUCL
 
LIST OF ANNEXURES
 

1. Representations made by the Chhattisgarh PUCL on September 13, 2013.
2. Documents provided under the Right to Information Act by the Public Information Officer of Collector Sukma to Adv Parijata Bharadwaj, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group and a member of the PUCL.

 
LIST OF VIDEOS SUBMITTED

1. Video A:          Testimonies of the family members of those killed.
2. Video B:          Collective testimonies of residents of various villages regarding burning                    of houses.
3. Video C:          Interview of the then Sarpanch Sundam Sannu.
4. Video D:          Collective demand letter being read out among the villagers.

The post NHRC Holds 2007 Salwa Judum Ops to Account, issues Notice to Chhattisgarh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Times of India

It also recommended that all political leaders, activists and young protestors detained under the Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) and other criminal charges should be released immediately and all cases against them should be withdrawn or revoked.

The other demands detailed in a PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) press statement issued yesterday:

• The government and security forces should curfew and other restrictions throughout the Valley and cease all hostilities against the civilian population. There should be demilitarisation of the Valley including withdrawal of security forces from civilian areas.
• PSA, 1978 and AFSPA must be repealed from the statute books.
• Facilitate the filing of cases against members of the security forces who indiscriminately killed and injured and committed other atrocities on the people.
• Set up a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge of the SC to look into the alleged extra judicial killing of Burhan Wani and other similar cases.
• The ban on Kashmir Reader should be immediately withdrawn and the publication be allowed to function normally.
• There should be no curtailment of the right to freedom and speech expression of the media and also of civil society organisations and people. All peaceful protests should be permitted.

The team was led by Dr. V Suresh, general secretary of the PUCL and included Kavita Srivastava (national secretary), Ramdas Rao (national council member) and Pragnya Joshi (national council member). PUCL member Dr. Jean Dreze was with the team briefly. Also accompanying the team were two independent persons: Parul Abrol (independent writer and journalist) and advocate Mustafa.

The full PUCL report may be read here.
 

The post PUCL Report Calls for Release of Khurram Parvez, Hurriyat leaders, Scrapping of PSA, AFSPA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

एक ने रोहित वेमुला जैसे होनहार छात्र को खोया तो दूसरे ने अखलाक अहमद के नाम पर दो बेटों और एक बेटी को यतीम होते देखा।

एक की दबंगो के हाथो चमड़ी उधेड़ी गई तो दूसरे ने अपनी जिंदगी के कई साल सलाखो के पीछे बिता दिये। प्रताड़ना और यातनाओं के ऐसे सैकड़ो उदाहरण है जिसे एक ब्लॉग मे नही लिखा जा सकता।

​​​​​​​बहरहाल इस प्रताड़ना और अत्याचार ने दलित भाईयों के अंदर एक जबरदस्त बदलाव की बयार लिखी। आज पूरे हिंदुस्तान मे दलित समुदाय सोशल मीडिया से लेकर सड़क तक जबरदस्त तरीके से एक्टिव है। दलित समाज हिंदुस्तान मे अपने ऊपर हो रहे अत्याचार का सबसे तीर्व विरोध करने वाले समाज के रूप मे हमारे सामने उभर कर आया है।

​​​​​​​रोहित वेमुला से लेकर गुजरात के ऊना में दलितों की पिटाई कांड तक दलित एकता की ताकत हम सब के सामने है।

दूसरी तरफ मुस्लिम समाज की बात की जाये तो इतना प्रताड़ित होने बावजूद भी ये समुदाय आज भी खुद पर हो रहे अत्याचार के खिलाफ आपसी मनमुटाव भुलाकर एकजुटता दिखाने मे कामयाब नही हो पा रहा है। आज भी ये खुद पर हो रहे अत्याचार के खिलाफ आवाज़ उठाने के लिये दूसरो पर निर्भर नजर आता है।

चंद गिनती के लोगो को छोड़कर आज पूरा मुस्लिम समुदाय चुप है। वो अपने ऊपर हो रहे अत्याचार के दर्द को महसूस तो कर रहा है लेकिन उसके खिलाफ एकजुट होकर उठ खड़े होने की हिम्मत आज भी नही जुटा पाया है।
सोशल मीडिया पर भी इस समाज की अच्छी खासी तादाद होने के बावजूद वो धार दिखाई नही देती जो दिखाई देनी चाहिये। मुसलमान खुद के खिलाफ हो रहे अत्याचार को आज भी सिर्फ महसूस करके रह जाता है, उसे शब्दो मे पिरोकर दूसरो के सामने रखने की कला मे आज भी हम बहुत पीछे है।

हमे इन सबसे उबरना होगा। खुद के अंदर विरोध करने की ताकत पैदा करनी होगी। अपनी आवाज़ को सरकारो तक पहुंचाने का हुनर हमे सीखना होगा। सोशल मीडिया का सही इस्तेमाल हमे सीखना होगा।
हमे अपनी लड़ाई खुद लड़ने के लिये एक होना होगा। आत्मनिर्भर होना होगा। हमे अपने बच्चों को पढ़ाना होगा, अपने हक के लिये उन्हें सिस्टम और सियासत का हिस्सा बनाना होगा और सबसे अहम हमे सियासी मंच पर एक साथ आना होगा।

तब जाकर हम अपने हक और अपने अधिकारो की हिफाज़त कर पायेंगे, वर्ना जो सूरते हाल है उसे बदलना इतना आसान नही है।

(Views expressed here are the author’s own. Sabrangindia may not necessarily endorse these views. Courtsey: Janta Ka Reporter)

The post भारत का मुसलमान दलितों से कुछ क्यों नहीं सीखता ? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Madras High Court on Saturday issued an order directing the Perambalur district administration and the temple authorities to ensure that Dalits are not prevented from entering the Sri Maha Mariyamman temple at Pasumbalur village in Perambalur district and taking part in the temple festival, according to a PTI report.

Justice M Sathyanarayanan’s order addressed to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department, Perambalur district collector and the temple authorities was in response to a plea by K Subramani.

“In the light of the rival submissions made and the facts and circumstances, this court directs the authorities concerned to ensure that the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste community are allowed to enter the temple and worship the presiding deity during the festival to be held till September 16,” the judge said.

Subramani, a Vanniar community leader, had alleged that the temple authorities were not allowing members of the Parayar (SC) community to take part in the festival which commenced on September 1. He approached the high court after authorities did not respond to the demand of the Dalits.

Dalits seeking entry into the temple in the past were attacked by members from the upper castes. One Katta Arumugam was brutally murdered and another Rajkumar received serious injuries on two occasions during the clashes in the past, he had said.

The judge made it clear that “people belonging to the upper caste as well as the Scheduled Caste shall realise the solemness of the occasion and shall extend maximum co-operation to the revenue as well as the police administration for the smooth conduct of the temple festival”.
 

The post Madras HC Order: Ensure Dalits can take part in Temple Fest appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It all began on the morning of Sunday, August 14 at Samter leading to an appeal being sent out in the thousands by What’s App, in Gujarati, by the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti, “For all those converging at Una on the #Chalo Una Call, the organizers are issuing this fervent appeal: Please take Full Precautions and do not come via Samter.” Samter was where the first brute attacks, using lathis on the head and feet, took place. As the police watched.

By the evening, the organisers including Mehul Chavda who spoke to Sabrangindia at about 11 p.m., had made several trips to the police station. “There have been at least seven to eight persons injured in the brutal attacks on dalits by non-Dlits, the so-called Gau Rakshaks,” Mehul said. “Lathis have been used by the attackers, many are in the clinics/hospitals. One person has his eyes bleeding with the lathi blows, the other has his ears bleeding. The first attacks took place on Dalits arriving to Una from Thangadh and Bolidar,” he added.

Late on Sunday evening, the eve of India's 70th Independence Day, President Pranab Mukherjee made a strong pitch against polarisation of the polity and stated that attacks against the 'weaker' sections' should be dealt with firmly. This is the fifth time in two and a half years that the President and the Vice President have had to publicly reprimand or caution the party in power against the growing physical attacks across the country. 

Photos taken by Leader of the Dalit Rally, Mehul Chavda in and outside the Una police station

Late into the night, the Gujarat police, living upto to its reputation of inaction had refused to register even an FIR despite brute injuries during the attacks. One attack took place on the morning of Sunday and two attacks, consecutively, one after another in the late evening of Sunday. At the end of the day the total number of persons who have suffered severe injuries could be 12.  The name of one injured person is Amit and another is Grishma who is associated with the web portal, dalit Camera.
 
For the past ten days, from August 5 onwards when the March was launched at Ahmedabad, it has drawn huge and enthusiastic support. Village after village in Gujarat has pledged to end decades and centuries old slavery and indignity and sworn to abandon an occupation that is demeaning and exclusive.
 
For the rally at Una tomorrow, Dalit activists from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi are slated to join. Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula is one of those expected to be present. Many of the young student leaders from the Jawaharlal Nehru university (JNU) too are expected to attend.

Earlier in the day, CPI-M leader and leader of the Kisan Sabha, Vijoo Krishnan arrived with many supporters at Una. He wrote, " Hundreds marched through Una defying threats from "Gau Rakshaks". Their road blocks and physical assault did not deter the Marchers. Slogans for Dalit-Muslim Unity, Workers-Peasant- Dalit Unity and to take forward the Struggle of Babasaheb Ambedkar rent the air. The most popular was obviously " गाय की दुम तुम रखो, हमें हमारी ज़मीन दो"

The March was loud and clear that dead cattle would not be lifted from now on and neither would manual scavenging be carried on with. This Struggle will have its place in history with others against caste oppression that have become part of folklore. The young leader Jignesh linked the land question with the Struggle for liberation from caste oppression and the demand for 5 acres of land for Dalits as an alternative source of livelihood has been articulated effectively. All India Kisan Sabha, AIAWU, AIDWA, SFI and Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch marched in Solidarity with Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti.

UPDATE:

Rama Naga, General Secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) said late on Sunday evening that "those who do not want this march to happen are attacking media persons and other citizens who are going in solidarity. All the buses going to Una, both those tun by private operators and those run by the state government appear to have been instructed not to carry any passengers who speak 'outside" languages. Even we, student leaders of the union, were refused seats on many buses going to Una. When we managed to get on to the last bas bound for Una, the conductor informed police officers that 'five people are going to &Una.' Hence we appeal to all those going to Una to be cautious.'"

The post Gau Rakshaks Attack Dalits outside Una as Gujarat Police Turns the Other Way appeared first on SabrangIndia.

UNA DALIT ATYACHAR LADAT SAMITI 
From August 5 to August 15 A March for Justice

गुजरात में ऊना से, जहां गौ-आतंकवाद की घटना हुई, वहां से पास ही है सोमनाथ मंदिर. जब सोमनाथ का धन लूटने के लिए मुहम्मद गजनी ने हमला किया, तो मंदिर बचाने के लिए सिर्फ ब्राह्मण पुजारी थे. जाहिर है, उनके बचाए न कुछ बचना था, न बचा.

मंदिर बचाने अगर गुजरात की पूरी जनता आ जाती तो गजनी के चंद घुड़सवारों को पीछे हटना पड़ता. लेकिन 2016 में अवर्णों का हिंदू धर्म में जो हाल है, उस हिसाब से 11वीं सदी में उनकी दुर्गति की कल्पना कीजिए.

उस समय भी उन्होंने यही कहा होगा – आपका धर्म, आप बचाइए. जैसे कि आज वे कह रहे हैं – आपकी गोमाता की लाश, आप संभालिए. जिस धर्म में दलितों – पिछड़ों का कोई मान नहीं है, क्या आश्चर्य की वह दुनिया का सबसे तेजी से सिंकुड़ता धर्म है.

बाबा साहेब ने एनिहिलेशन ऑफ कास्ट में हिंदुओं से साफ कहा है कि तुम लोग बीमार हो, और बाकियों को भी बीमार बना दोगे. उन्होंने बीमारी से उबरने के उपाय भी सुझाए हैं. लेकिन भारत सरकार ने इस किताब को बेचना बंद कर दिया. बीमार ठीक होना नहीं चाहता. बीमारी से प्यार है उसे.

एनिहिलेशन ऑफ कास्ट भारत सरकार अब नहीं बेचती. कोलंबिया यूनिवर्सिटी ने ऑनलाइन उपलब्ध कराया है. 

इस बार स्वतंत्रता दिवस गुजरात के ऊना में. यह है आजादी की दूसरी लड़ाई.‪#‎AazadiKooch

दांडी मार्च और नमक सत्याग्रह के 86 साल बाद एक बार फिर देश की सभी निगाहें गुजरात के मानव मुक्ति संग्राम पर टिक गई हैं.

ऊना मार्च को कल अहमदाबाद के आंबेडकर चौक मे से नीला झंडा दिखाकर रवाना किया जाएगा. 15 अगस्त को ऊना में राष्ट्रीय झंडा फहराया जायेगा.

उम्मीद करता हूं कि मैं उस ऐतिहासिक लम्हे का गवाह बन पाऊंगा.
आमीन!

वाशिंगटन मार्च के 53 साल बाद एक और मार्च मुक्ति के लिए. ‪#‎AzaadiKooch

The post ऊना से सोमनाथ – 81 किलोमीटर. appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: AFP / Sam Panthaky

दलित हनुमानों की बेशर्मी
भाजपा ने तीनों दलित रामों को सफलतापूर्वक हनुमान बना लिया है। अपनी बात कहने के लिए उन्होंने कुछ कथित दलित बुद्धिजीवियों को अपने पाले में कर लिया है। यह भी बेशर्मी की हद है कि एक तरफ जहां पूरे देश में ऊना कांड को लेकर जबरदस्त गुस्सा हैं वहीं ऐसे कथित दलित बुद्धिजीवी कह रहे हैं कि गुजरात को दलित अत्याचार से जोड़ कर नहीं देखा जाना चाहिए। उनकी बेहयाई और बौद्धिक बेईमानी का आलम यह कि वह नेशनल क्राइम रिकार्ड ब्यूरो के दलित दमन और अत्याचार के आंकड़ों का संदर्भ से काट कर हवाला दे रहे हैं। एक पैनल डिस्कशन में जब अन्य गैर दलित वक्ता गुजरात में दलितों की पिटाई की आलोचना कर रहे थे तो यह महाशय बड़े ही अजीब ढंग से गुजरात की तुलना अन्य राज्यों से करने में लगे थे। उनका कहना था कि दूसरे राज्यों की तुलना में तो गुजरात में दलितों पर काफी कम अत्याचार के मामले में होते हैं।

जबकि सच्चाई यह है कि गुजरात दलितों पर अत्याचार के मामले में देश के शीर्ष पांच राज्यों में शामिल है।  वर्ष 2013 में जब लोकसभा चुनावों से पहले की गहमागहमी और वाइब्रेंट गुजरात अपने चरम पर था और नरेंद्र मोदी को देश के अगले पीएम के तौर पर देखा जा रहा था तो गुजरात में दलितों पर होने वाले अत्याचार भी उफान पर थे।  2013 में अनुसूचित जाति के एक लाख लोगों में 29.21 लोग इन अत्याचारों के शिकार हो रहे थे। जबकि इससे पिछले सालों में यह आंकड़ा 25.23 का था। इस तरह गुजरात दलितों पर अत्याचार के मामले में देश में चौथे नंबर पर था। पहले नेशनल क्राइम रिकार्ड ब्यूरो संपूर्ण एक लाख आबादी (दलित, गैर दलित मिलाकर ) पर दलितों के खिलाफ होने वाले अत्याचार के आंकड़े इकट्ठा करता था। लेकिन अब इसमें सुधार किया गया है और अब यह आंकड़ा अनुसूचित जाति के प्रति एक लाख की आबादी पर जुटाया जाता है। इसलिए नीचे एनसीआरबी के जो आंकड़े दिए गए हैं उनमें सुधार की जरूरत है। इसके बावजूद ये आंक ड़े दलितों के खिलाफ होने वाले अत्याचार के मामले में गुजरात का रिकार्ड सुधार नहीं सकते। हत्या और बलात्कार जैसे बड़े मामलों में गुजरात का रिकार्ड बेहद खराब है।

अनुसूचित जाति की प्रति लाख आबादी के हिसाब से हत्या और रेप के आंकड़ें
Table 1: Rate of incidence of Murders and Rapes (per lakh population of the Scheduled Castes)

Source: Crime of India, 2012 and 2013. National Crime Research Bureau, Govt. of India, New Delhi
 
इन आंक ड़ों से साफ है कि 2012 में उत्तर प्रदेश (0.57) और मध्य प्रदेश (0.78) को छोड़ कर हत्या के मामले में गुजरात सब राज्यों से आगे था। 2013 में इसका रिकार्ड सबसे खराब रहा। इस साल गुजरात दलितों के खिलाफ अत्याचार के लिए बदनाम रहे उत्तर प्रदेश के बराबर ही था। रेप के मामले में वाइब्रेंट गुजरात,  2012 मेंं छत्तीसगढ़  (3.86) , हरियाणा (2.79), केरल (6.34) मध्य प्रदेश (6.75), राजस्थान (3.44) को छोड़ कर दलितों के खिलाफ अत्याचार में आगे रहा। 2013 में इसने यह केरल (7.36), मध्य प्रदेश (7.31) , हरियाणा (5.45) और राजस्थान (5.01) को छोड़ कर इस मामले में आगे रहा।

मोदी के घडिय़ाली आंसू
ऐसी  खबरें हैं कि मोदी ऊना की घटना से विचलित हैं, जैसे उनके मॉडल गुजरात में यह पहली बार हो रहा है। सितंबर, 2012 में सुरेंद्रनगर जिले के एक छोटे शहर थानगढ़ में मोदी की पुलिस 22 और 23 सितंबर को लगातार तीन दलित युवकों को गोलियों से मार गिराया। लेकिन उन्होंने एक शब्द भी नहीं कहा। जबकि घटना के दिन वह उस जगह से महज 17 किलोमीटर दूर विवेकानंद युवा विकास यात्रा की अगुवाई कर रहे थे। 22 सितंबर को पुलिस ने एक दलित युवक की पिटाई करने वाले भारवाड़ों का विरोध में उतरे दलितों पर गोली चलाई। इस घटना में एक 17 वर्षीय दलित किशोर पंकज सुमरा बुरी तरह घायल हो गया। बाद में उसकी राजकोट के एक अस्पताल में मौत हो गई। इस घटना से नाराज दलित फिर सडक़ों पर उतर आए। अगले दिन प्रदर्शन के दौरान पुलिस ने फिर फायरिंग की और तीन दलित युवक घायल हो गए। इनमें से मेहुल राठौड़ (17) और प्रकाश परमार (26) की राजकोट अस्पताल में मौत हो गई। ये हत्याएं 2012 के विधानसभा चुनाव से ठीक पहले हुई थीं। पूरे राज्य में इससे शोक फैल गया और चार पुलिसकर्मियों के खिलाफ शिकायत दर्ज हुई। सीआईडी को जांच का जिम्मा सौंपा गया। पुलिसकर्मियों के खिलाफ तीन एफआईआर दर्ज होने के बावजूद सिर्फ एक मामले में चार्जशीट फाइल हो पाई। और पुलिसकर्मियों में से एक आरोपी बीसी सोलंकी की तो गिरफ्तारी भी नहीं हो पाई।

गुजरात में दलित समुदाय के खिलाफ सामंती दमन का लंबा इतिहास रहा है। यहां दलितों की आबादी 7.1 प्रतिशत है, जबकि राष्ट्रीय औसत है 16.6 प्रतिशत। दलित राजनीति में कमोबेश जड़ता की स्थिति है।  1970 में दलित पैंथर्स के उभार के बाद उनकी गांधीवादी नींद 1981 में आरक्षण विरोधी दंगों के दौरान टूटी। उस समय पहली बार राज्य में जगह-जगह गांधी जयंती मनाई गई। लेकिन यह जागरुकता थोड़े समय के लिए ही रही।

जब भाजपा को दलितों की चुनावी अहमियत का अहसास हुआ तो पार्टी ने उन्हें लुभाना शुरू किया। इस रणनीति के बाद दलित1986 में जगन्नाथ रथ यात्रा जैसे उत्सवों में भाग लेने लगे। यहां तक कि दलितों 2002 में गोधरा के बाद भडक़े दंगों के दौरान पार्टी के सैनिकों की तरह काम किया। गुजरात में अब भी दलितों के खिलाफ अपमान, अत्याचार और भेदभाव जारी है। राज्य खुलेआम या ढके-छिपे तौर पर दलित विरोधी कार्यों में शामिल है। लेकिन राज्य में बढ़ती समृद्धि के बीच खुद को अंधेरे भविष्य से घिरा देख कर नई पीढ़ी के दलित अब बेचैन है। दलितों के अंदर भाजपा की  चिकनी-चुपड़ी राजनीति के खिलाफ मौजूद गुस्सा भडक़ चुका है। ऊना जैसे मामलों से यह साबित हो चुका है।

दलितों का अभिशाप

हाल की घटनाओं से दलित जागरण के नए संकेत मिल रहे है। भाजपा, कांग्रेस की नकल करते हुए अंबेडकर का स्मारक बनवा रही है। वह खुद को बड़ा अंबेडकर भक्त साबित करने पर तुली है। लेकिन हाल के दलित विरोधी कृत्यों ने उसकी कलई खोल दी है। जब अक्टूबर 2002 में हरियाणा में झज्जर जिले के दुलियाना ने विहिप के गुंडों ने पांच दलितों को पीट-पीट कर मार डाला था तो इसके उपाध्यक्ष गिरिराज किशोर ने इसका समर्थन किया था। उन्होंने कहा था कि हमारे पुराणों में एक गाय की जान की कीमत क ई लोगों की जिंदगी से ज्यादा बताई गई है। उस समय हरियाणा के भाजपा प्रमुख रामबिलास शर्मा ने गोवध को मानव हत्या जैसा जघन्य अपराध घोषित कराने का वादा किया था। शायद दलितों ने इस तरह की घटनाओं को एक-आध घटना मानकर भाजपा को माफ कर दिया था। लेकिन इस बार एक के बाद एक हो रही दलित विरोधी घटनाओं ने उन्हें जगा दिया है और उन्हें भाजपा के असली चरित्र का अहसास होने लगा है।

हालांकि हिंदुत्व कैंप को बाद में हिंदू राष्ट्र निर्माण के अपना एजेंडा लागू करने में दलित वोटों की भूमिका का अहसास हो गया है लेकिन दोनों के बीच जो वैचारिक विरोधाभास है वह आसानी से नहीं सुलझ सकता। बार-बार स्वामी और साध्वी जैसे लोगों की दलित विरोधी भावनाएं या हिंदुत्व के गुंडों का अत्याचार उभर कर सामने आ ही जाते हैं।

सबसे अहम है हिंदुत्व का एजेंडा। उसका दोमुंहापन और अतार्किकता। एक तरफ  तो वह मवेशियों पर प्रतिबंध लगा कर बूचडख़ानों को बंद करवा रहा है। इससे लाखोंं मुस्लिमों और दलितों का रोजगार छिन रहा है। दूसरी ओर इस देश में मांस का निर्यात करने वाले छह सबसे बूचडख़ानों में से चार हिंदुओं के हैं। इनमें से दो ब्राह्मणों के हैं। इसके बावजूद मवेशी वध अगर हिंदुत्व का सांस्कृतिक मूल्य है तो भी यह दलित हितों और आकांक्षाओं के विरुद्ध जाता है। बहरहाल, देश में जैसे-जैसे हिंदुत्व का दलित विरोधी रुख सामने आ रहा है, उसकी आंच भाजपा को महसूस होने लगी है। अगले विधानसभा चुनावों में भाजपा को इस आंच की तपिश जरूर मालूम होगी। 
 
आनंद तेलतुंबड़े कमेटी फॉर प्रोटेक्शन ऑफ डेमोक्रेटिक राइट्स (सीपीडीआर) के जनरल सेक्रेट्री हैं।
 

The post भाजपा के खिलाफ क्यों उठ खड़े हुए हैं दलित-2 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

हाल में देश के अलग-अलग हिस्सों में उठ खड़े हुए दलितों के आंदोलन में भाजपा विरोध का एक खास रंग दिख रहा है। चाहे रोहित वेमुला की संवैधानिक हत्या पर देश भर में उठ खड़े हुए छात्रों के विरोध का मामला हो या फिर गुजरात में कथित गौरक्षकों की ओर से दलित युवकों की बर्बर पिटाई पर हर राज्य में उठ खड़े हुए आंदोलन का मुद्दा। मुंबई में अंबेडकर भवन गिराने के खिलाफ उनके समर्थकों के उमड़े जन-सैलाब का मामला हो या फिर राजस्थान में नाबालिग लडक़ी के रेप और हत्या के खिलाफ दिखा दलितों का गुस्सा। या फिर मायावती के खिलाफ भाजपा उपाध्यक्ष दयाशंकर की बेहद अश्लील टिप्पणी के विरोध में सडक़ों पर दिखे विरोध का मामला।  इन सभी में भाजपा के खिलाफ दलितों का गुस्सा साफ देखा जा सकता है। भाजपा के दलित हनुमानों की टोली भले ही दलितों में भडक़ी आग को बुझाने की कितनी भी कोशिश क्यों न करें लेकिन यह अगले साल कई राज्यों में होने वाले विधानसभा चुनावों से पहले बुझने से तो रही।

 दलितों के इन आंदोलनों में एक खास तरह की जागरुकता दिख रही है। अगर दलितों के बीच यह जागरुकता सचमुच ठोस है तो यह संघ परिवार के हिंदू राष्ट्र के प्रोजेक्ट के लिए विनाशकारी साबित हो सकती है। 
 

रोहित की बार-बार हत्या

रोहित की जिस तरह से संवैधानिक हत्या हुई, वह जगजाहिर है।  इसकी दोबारा चर्चा यहां जरूरी नहीं। लेकिन इसे जिस तरह से दबाने की कोशिश की गई वह वास्तविक हत्या से कम आपराधिक करतूत नहीं है।

दलितों के खिलाफ अत्याचार से जुड़े कानून के तहत गाछीबावड़ी पुलिस ने हैदराबाद सेंट्रल यूनिवर्सिटी के विवादास्पद वाइस चासंलर अप्पा राव पोडाइल, मंत्री बंडारू दत्तात्रेय, और एबीवीपी के अध्यक्ष एन सुशील कुमार के खिलाफ  रोहित वेमुला को आत्महत्या के लिए उकसाने के लिए मामला दर्ज किया था। लेकिन  पुलिस ने इस मामले में कोई छानबीन नहीं की। रोहित की हत्या ने देश भर छात्रों का बड़ा आंदोलन खड़ा कर दिया। छात्रों ने पूरे देश में इस मामले में लडऩे के लिए संयुक्त एक्शन कमेटी खड़े कर दिए। छात्रों के इस विरोध ने अप्पा राव को यूनिवर्सिटी कैंपस  से भागने पर मजबूर कर दिया।  लेकिन छात्रों का गुस्सा थोड़ा कम हुआ तो अप्पा राव 22 मार्च को फिर कैंपस में लौट आए। जाहिर है, छात्रों को विरोध करना ही था और उन्होंने भारी पुलिस मौजूदगी के बावजूद वाइस-चासंलर का घर घेर लिया। अंदर अप्पा राव एक मीटिंग कर रहे थे। छात्र यह देख कर भौचक थे कि अंदर उनके साथ मीटिंग में एबीवीपी के सदस्य मौजूद थे। विरोध कर छात्र अंदर घुसना चाहते थे। इस पर पुलिस ने उन पर जबरदस्त लाठी चार्ज किया। दो फैकल्टी सदस्यों को भी उन्होंने नहीं छोड़ा। पुलिस ने उन्हें कई किलोमीटर तक खदेड़ा। छात्रों को पीटा और छात्राओं के साथ छेडख़ानी की। छात्रों और फैकल्टी सदस्यों पर नए दौर के पुलिस अत्याचार हुए। मानो इतना काफी नहीं था। जिन प्रोफेसरों को गिरफ्तार किया गया था उन्हें निलंबित कर दिया गया। जब ये प्रोफेसर यूनिवर्सिटी गेट पर आमरण अनशन पर बैठ गए और जनता और तमाम प्रगतिशील संगठनों की ओर से उनके लिए समर्थन का सैलाब उमड़ पड़ा तो अप्पा राव डर गए और उन्होंने निलंबन वापस ले लिए।

मानव संसाधन मंत्री जैसे मंत्रालय का जिम्मा लिये बैठी बेहद कम काबिल मंत्री स्मृति ईरानी पालिर्यामेंट में अपनी ड्रामाई क्षमता का प्रदर्शन करते हुए झूठ पर झूठ बोलती रहीं। अपने तुच्छ कदमों के समर्थन में उनके झूठ लगातार जारी रहे।  उन्होंने रोहित के समर्थन में आंदोलन कर रहे छात्रों पर तीखे हमले किए।

रोहित की जाति पर सवाल उठा कर इस मुद्दे को भटकाने की कोशिश की गई। मानो रोहित का दलित होना उन्हें तुरंत न्याय मुहैया करा देता। अगर रोहित दलित नहीं होते तो उनके खिलाफ हुआ अपराध छोटा हो जाता।

उस दौरान तेलंगाना सरकार की पूरी मशीनरी और उसके 600 लोग (इनमें कई दलित थे) ने रोहित की दुखी मां पर पिल पड़े कि वह अपनी जाति साबित करंð।  रोहित के पास दलित होने का सर्टिफिकेट था। वह दलित के तौर पर जिए और मरे। लेकिन तेलंगाना प्रशासन यह झूठ फैलाता रहा कि रोहित दलित नहीं वडेरा जाति के थे। महादुख की इस घड़ी में रोहित का परिवार यह साबित करने के लिए दौड़ता रहा कि वह वास्तव में दलित थे। खुशकिस्मती से सरकार की चालाकियां नाकाम रहीं और रोहित का दलित होना साबित हो गया।

लेकिन जैसी कि उम्मीद थी इससे भी दोषियों पर कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ा। वे अपने सत्ता केंद्रों पर काबिज रहे। अप्पा राव ने दमन की हद पार कर दी। रोहित और यूनिवर्सिटी के बर्खास्त दोस्तों के अस्थायी ठिकाने दलित विधि को गिरा दिया गया। उनके आंदोलन के प्रतीक स्थल के तौर पर स्थापित शॉपकॉम को भी हटा दिया गया। अंबेडकर की मूर्ति चुरा ली गई और रोहित की टंगी तस्वीर खराब कर दी गई।

गुजरात में गुंडागर्दी

11 जुलाई को गुजरात में सोमनाथ जिले के ऊना तालुका के मोटा समधियाला गांव में कुछ स्वयंभू गो-रक्षकों ने मरे हुए जानवरों की खाल निकालने का काम करने वाले कुछ युवकों पर गोवध का आरोप लगाते हुए उनकी बर्बर पिटाई शुरू कर दी। गो रक्षा समिति के कुछ लोगों ने पहले पूरे परिवार की पिटाई की और फिर चार युवकों को उठा कर ले गए। उन्हें कमर तक नंगा कर दिया गया। जंजीरों से बांधा गया और एसयूवी से बांध कर घसीट कर ऊना शहर तक ले जाया गया। एक पुलिस स्टेशन के ठीक सामने उनकी एक बार पिटाई की गई और यह सबकुछ बड़ी भीड़ के सामने घंटों तक होता रहा।

पिटाई करने वाले कानून से इतने बेखौफ थे कि उन्होंने पूरी पिटाई की वीडियो बनाई और उसे वायरल कर दिया। उनकी इस करतूत ने दलितों में गुस्सा भर दिया और वे स्वत:स्फूर्त ढंग से विरोध प्रदर्शन के लिए सडक़ों पर उतर आए। हालांकि गुजरात दलितों के लिहाज से कोई आदर्श राज्य कभी नहीं रहा लेकिन दिनदहाड़े उन पर इस तरह का अत्याचार इससे पहले वहां कभी नहीं हुआ था।

इस घटना  के बाद वहां खुद ब खुद दलित विरोध की लहर उमड़ पड़ी। करीब 30 दलितों ने अपने प्रति हो रहे अन्यायों का पर्दाफाश करने के लिए खुदकुशी की कोशिश की। लेकिन सबसे कारगर रहा दलितों वह अद्भुत विरोध, जिसके बारे में पूरे देश में चर्चा हो रही है। विरोध के तौर पर दलितों ने कई जगहों पर कलक्टर के दफ्तर के बाहर जानवरों के कंकाल फेंक दिए। उन्होंने मरे हुए जानवरों को उठाने और उनकी खाल निकालने का धंधा बंद कर दिया । दलित विरोध के प्रति अपना समर्थन और अद्भुत एकता जारी रखते हुए उन्होंने इससे होने वाली कमाई से हाथ धोने से भी परहेज नहीं किया।
 

अंबेडकर की विरासत का विध्वंस

25 जून को मुंबई में तडक़े खुद को अंबेडकरवादी बताने वाले सैकड़ों बाउंसर आए और दलित संघर्ष और अस्मिता के प्रतीक और प्रसिद्ध बिल्ंिडग अंबेडकर भवन और अंबेडकर प्रेस गिरा दिया। दादर में यह कुकृत्य रिटायरमेंट के बाद चीफ इनफॉरमेशन ऑफिसर के मलाईदार कुर्सी पर काबिज रत्नाकर गायकवाड़ के इशारे पर हुआ। बाबा साहेब से जुड़े इस प्रेस का ऐतिहासिक महत्व था। उनके दो अखबार जनता और प्रबुद्ध भारत यहीं से प्रकाशित होते थे। यहीं से इनकी छपाई भी होती थी।  यह प्रेस 1940 से ही अंबेडकरवादी आंदोलन का कें द्र रहा था। उनकी मृत्यु के बाद भी यह प्रेस इस आंदोलन का केंद्र बना रहा।  नामातंर आंदोलन समेत कई आंदोलनों की योजना यहीं से बनी और यहीं से इन्हें चलाया भी गया। दूसरा अंग्रेजी के यू आकार का बनाया गया एक मंजिला अंबेडकर भवन 1990 में स्थापित किया गया था। इन दो भवनों का यह कह कर गिराना कि ये बेहद कमजोर हो चुके हैं और खतरनाक हैं, सिर्फ बहाना है। यह इन भवनों की गिराने की साजिश थी। जिस निर्लज्ज तरीके से इस भवन को गिराने के तर्क दिए गए और जिस तरह के अहंकार का प्रदर्शन किया गया या फिर जिस तरह के घटनाक्रम सामने आए, उससे यह साफ हो गया है कि यह राज्य में भाजपा के बड़े नेताओं  की साजिश थी। मुख्यमंत्री को ट्रस्ट की विवादित स्थिति के बारे में अच्छी तरह से पता था। ट्रस्ट ने यहां 17 मंजिल के अंबेडकर भवन बनाने के लिए चुपचाप कहीं और भूमि पूजन करा लिया था। मुख्यमंत्री ने इसके लिए 60 करोड़ रुपये का अनुदान दिया था। इसलिए 25 जून को जो हुआ वह सीधे तौर आपराधिक कृत्य था और इसके लिए गायकवाड़ को सार्वजनिक रूप से माफी मांगने पर मजबूर किया गया। इस काम के लिए तो गायकवाड़ को गिरफ्तार कर लिया जाना चाहिए लेकिन उनके संवैधानिक पद का झूठा बहाना बना कर ऐसा नहीं किया गया।

गायकवाड़ और भाजपा सरकार की इस कारस्तानी से नाराज होकर मुंबई में 19 जुलाई को विशाल प्रदर्शन रैली हुई। लेकिन इस पूरे एपिसोड ने दलितों में वर्ग विभाजन को एक बार अपने भोंडे रूप में पूरी तरह उजागर कर दिया।  एक ओर विदेश में रहने वाले दलितों, उच्च मध्य वर्ग के दलितों और दलित ब्यूरोक्रेट्स के भ्रष्टाचार के पैसे पर पलने वाले बौद्ध भिक्षुओं ने गायकवाड़ का पक्ष लिया, जबकि अन्य दलितों ने उसकी गिरफ्तारी की मांग की और अंबेडकर बंधुओं का  उनके रिश्तेदारों का समर्थन किया। अंबेडकर के तीनों पोतों ने आम तौर पर स्वतंत्र रुख अख्तियार किया हुआ है। उन्होंने हमेशा कांग्रेस और भाजपा से दूरी बना रखी है। राजनीतिक रूप से उन्होंने जनसंघर्षों का पक्ष लिया है।  भले  ही वे कितने भी कमजोर क्यों न हो गए हों लेकिन अंबेडकर प्रतिष्ठानों के वे एक मात्र प्रतिनिधि हैं। वे ही उन प्रतिष्ठानों के वारिस हैं, जो हिंदुत्व की ताकतों के खिलाफ तन कर खड़े हैं। लिहाजा भाजपा के लिए यह जरूरी था कि उनकी छवि खराब की जाए। इसके लिए मध्यवर्गीय दलितों के एक वर्ग को उकसाया भी गया। उन लोगों ने धीरे-धीरे यह प्रोपगंडा करना शुरू किया कि बाबा साहेब के वारिस अंबेडकरवादी नहीं बल्कि माओवादी समर्थक हैं। कम से कम एक दलित अखबार महानायक लगातार बड़े जोर-शोर से पिछले पांच साल से इस झूठ का प्रचार कर रहा  है।

अंबेडकर से जुड़े भवन औैर प्रेस को गिराने से जुड़े इस नाटक के दौरान भाजपा ने ऐसी ही कुछ मकसदों को हासिल करने की कोशिश की। गायकवाड़ ने अंबेडकर के तीनों पोतों और उनके पतिा यशवंतराव अंबेडकर को नाकारा वारिस करार दिया और कहा कि ये लोगों की जमीन हड़पने वाले गुंडे हैं।

गायकवाड़ के सामने दो काम थे। एक – अंबेडकर भवन का विध्वंस और दूसरा उनके वारिसों को बदनाम करना। इस काम में भाजपा उनकी मदद कर रही है। लेकिन इस चक्कर में वह यह नहीं देख पा रही भाजपा के खिलाफ देश भर में गुस्सा फैलता जा रहा है।  पुलिस और सरकारी मशीनरी जिस तरह से काम कर रही हैं और जिस निर्ममता से दलितों से निपट रही है, उससे उसका दलित विरोधी रुख साफ है।

जारी…..
 

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