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Gujarat: The news of atrocities and social injustice towards Dalits is not new for Gujarat. Dalit teenagers are beaten on the suspicion of posing as upper caste folks, grooms are attacked for riding horses to their weddings, others are punished for changing their names. It’s been two years since the flogging of Dalit men in Una made national headlines and yet the accused are out on bail while the community awaits justice. They will have to wait a long time as there are 3, 879 cases pending at various stages of trial in Gujarat courts.
 
16 special courts were introduced in 33 districts of Gujarat two years after the Una flogging incident to address Dalit atrocity in Gujarat. The special courts are a part of total 56 special courts and according to data from Gujarat High Court till December 31 last year, there are 3,879 atrocity cases pending at various stages of trial in these courts.
 
A report by Ahmedabad Mirror said that Ahmedabad tops the list, followed by Kutch, Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Surat and Patan. All of them have more than 200 cases pending in courts. Ahmedabad courts, both rural and city sessions, have 485 pending cases. Besides these, there are 11 districts which have more than 100 pending cases.
 
“The Veraval court in Gir-Somnath district, where the Una flogging case of 2016 and Ankolali burning case of 2012 took place, has 122 pending cases, while the court in Surendranagar, which witnessed the Thangadh firing incident in 2012, has 129. There are as many as 110 cases pending in Junagadh court, which include the case with the largest number of accused—Keshod community clash of 1999 that happened in the aftermath of a rape. Rajpipla court of Narmada district has the lowest number of pending cases at 11, followed by Vyara court in Tapi district with 13 and the Mahisagar district court, also in Rajpipla, with 17 cases. There are 13 districts where the pending cases are in double digits,” it reported.
 
Lack of infrastructure, bias and false cases
“Regular courts are given additional work of special atrocity courts. Secondly, if the court does not have the capacity to deal with the number of cases it gets, pendency increases. Thirdly, several false cases are filed. This leads to delay in hearing of genuine cases of atrocity. These are besides the usual reasons for delay like absence of complainant, witnesses, lawyers or judge,” Ahmedabad Mirror quoted Judge (retd) OL Pandey, Former Law Secretary, Gujarat.
 
“Dalit rights activist and founder of Navsarjan Trust Martin Mackwan agreed that police and judiciary tend to take cases lightly due to a high number of false complaints. “There are cases which are pending because proceedings have been stayed for 5-7 years. Also, there is so much workload on the police and judiciary that they are unable to process all of it because of lack of infrastructure development,” he added,” reported Mirror.
 
Dalit activist and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani said that there needs to be courts exclusively for atrocity cases which will reduce the pendency. He added that the government can’t get away with providing compensation and what they really want is social justice. “In Una case, the trial has not begun even after two years and the accused are out on bail. The state government is not doing anything to ensure the trial is completed. This sends a message to non-Dalits and non-tribals that the accused will never be punished,” he was quoted by Mirror.
 
Advocate Govind Parmar felt the judiciary was biased towards the accused in atrocity cases. “In one case, the accused who was out on bail wrote a suicide note blaming the victim of atrocity, yet his bail was not cancelled. Similarly, the Una case accused attacked the Sarvaiya family while out on bail,” Parmar said.
 
Low conviction rate 
Manisha Sendar is a special public prosecutor for the Ahmedabad Special Atrocity Court, which was established after the Una flogging incident in 2016. “A total of 250 cases were assigned here. Of those, the court has disposed of 120, which is the highest in Gujarat. However, conviction happened in only three of them—one each of murder, rape and grievous hurt. In the remaining cases, the accused and victims reached compromises,” she was quoted by Mirror.
 
Explaining the trend, she said, “While the victims promise to fight to the end, it is only when they become hostile that we realise that they have reached a settlement, often monetary, with the accused. Many victims later tell us that since they are neighbours or are in minority in areas populated by higher castes, it was in their best interests to reach a settlement and withdraw the cases.”
 
She clarified that compromises do not happen in serious cases like rape and murder. Currently, there are about 15 atrocity cases related to murder that are under trial at the Ahmedabad sessions court. Three of these are awaiting judgment, Sendar shared with Mirror.
 
Cases pending in Bihar, Jharkhand
In April, a member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Yogendra Paswan, had said that 1,449 cases relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes people in Bihar and Jharkhand were pending before the Commission till date. He added that the number of pending cases was 2,206 on June 1, 2017, at a press conference in Patna.
 
“When I took over as a member of the Commission on June 1, 2017, 646 new cases were filed before the Commission from Bihar and Jharkhand, taking the total number of pending cases upto 2,206,” Paswan said. Of the 2,206 cases, 757 cases have been disposed of till date and thus the total pending cases before the Commission from Bihar and Jharkhand was 1449 till date. He asked the police to expedite the cases pending against the people of the Scheduled Castes category. On the Commission’s directive, the police submitted chargesheets in 38 cases relating to atrocities against SC people besides arresting 39 accused persons on its own initiative, he said,” reported PTI.
 
Crime against Dalits rose by 746% over a decade
Over the decade to 2016, the rate of crime against Dalits rose more than eight times (746%); there were 2.4 crimes per 100,000 Dalits in 2006, rising to 20.3 in 2016, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2016 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the latest available.
 
The rate of crime against Adivasis or scheduled tribes grew by over 12 times (1,160%)–from 0.5 in 2006 to 6.3 in 2016.
 
However, cases pending police investigation for both marginalised groups has risen by 99% and 55% respectively, while the pendency in courts has risen by 50% and 28%, respectively. The conviction rates for crime against SCs and STs have fallen by 2 percentage points and 7 percentage points, respectively, to 26% and 21%, from 2006 to 2016.
 
Full report: https://sabrangindia.in/article/over-decade-crime-rate-against-dalits-rose-746
 

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According to the FIR, the Dalit youth, identified as Maulik Jadhav, had suffixed ‘sinh’ to his first name on a social media account on May 10. Very soon thereafter, he soon started getting threats from members of the Darbar (Kshatriya) community. Jadhav is a member of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM), the outfit led by Vadgam MLA and Dalit MLA Jignesh Mevani. 

“On Tuesday evening, when the complainant (Jadhav) went to a petrol pump, a white car was following him. It suddenly overtook him and blocked his way. Six men got out, of whom two were armed with guns while the others had pipes, sticks and bladed weapons.They started thrashing him, hurling casteist slurs and abusing him for using ‘sinh’ in his name.
 One accused, identified as Sahdevsinh, caught him by the collar and slapped him.The complainant managed to escape from the spot and took shelter at Sonarkui police station in Dholka,” says the FIR signed by inspector L B Tadvi of Dholka town.
 
Jadhav told TOI, “Using ‘sinh’ is not the prerogative of any community. My brothers and I decided to use ‘sinh’ with our name after which, I started getting abusive calls and threats from members of the Darbar community.”
 
 

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In the latest of a long list of horrific incidents that reveal the utter absence of any respect for the rule of law, Mukesh Vaniya, a Dalit ragpicker, was lynched over suspicion of theft from a factory. His wife Jaya and aunt Savita were also roughed up by the accused. Four persons were arrested and a minor boy, aged 17 years, was detained on Monday in connection with the incident after a video of the crime — purportedly showing two persons taking turns to beat Vaniya, with a stick while another person holding him by a rope tied to his waist — went viral on social media. 

The NHRC took suo motu cognisance of the media reports. In the notice, the commission observed that, “if true, (the case) raises serious issues of violation of human rights of the victim”. NHRC said in a statement, “it has issued a notice to the chief secretary to the government of Gujarat calling for a report in the matter within four weeks along with measures taken for relief to the affected families”.  The deceased’s wife Jaya has also alleged that the accused hurled caste-based abuses before thrashing them when they refused to clean up garbage from near their factory.

Those arrested in the case include Jaysukh Radadiya (39), owner of Radadiya Industries, his two brothers-in-law Chirag Vitthal Vora (28) and Divyesh Kishorebhai Vora (32) and his associate Tejas Kanubhai Zala (29). All have been booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapon) and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act. They have been remanded to police custody till May 25. The police has predictably given out a version that gives a protection (of sorts to the accused): the police have said that the accused suspected Vaniya and his family members to be thieves!

Vaniya and his family had migrated from Parnala village in Limbdi taluka of Surendranagar to Rajkot last week in search of employment. He is survived by his wife Jaya and two children — a four-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter.
 
Commenting on the NHRC notice, chief secretary JN Singh said, “NHRC has instructed us to file action taken report in Shapar case. Accused have been arrested and compensation disbursed as per norms. All immediate required action has been taken.”

Related articles:

1. A Video Again, Shows Dalit Couple Tied Up, Flogged, Man Dies: Gujarat

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1. A Dalit couple in Gujarat allegedly beaten; husband dies, wife is critical
2. Gujarat lawmaker Jignesh Mevani tweeted the video, allegedly from Rajkot
3. Five people have reportedly been caught

The mercilessly beating, to death of a Dalit man, bound by ropes around his waist, is the latest incident, video-taped and circulated, revealing again how media is being used to spread news about crude violence. The video clip allegedly from Gujarat’s Rajkot district. The man died after the savage beating that took place reportedly on the orders of an auto-parts factory owner, according to the police complaint. His wife was allegedly beaten up too.

The man, identified as Mukesh Vaniya, winces and screams as he is flogged by two men in the disturbing footage tweeted this morning by Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani.

“Mr Mukesh Vaniya belonging to a scheduled caste was miserably thrashed and murdered by factory owners in Rajkot and his wife was brutally beaten up,” he tweeted with the hashtag #GujaratIsNot Safe4Dalits.

Five people, including the factory owner, have been arrested on charges of murder and under the law on atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. “We have arrested five people, including the factory owner. I cannot reveal his name yet as it’s not mentioned in the FIR (first information report). A murder case has been filed under the SC/ST Act and a deputy rank officer will probe the case,” Rajkot senior police officer Shruti Mehta said.

On Sunday morning, Mukesh Vaniya and his wife, both rag-pickers, were using magnets to look for scrap when some factory workers confronted them, accusing them of theft. The woman escaped to get help from their village nearby. By the time she returned with some people, Vaniya was prone on the ground. He was pronounced dead in the hospital.

Jignesh Mevani’s post describes the incident as “worse than the 2016 Una attack“, in which four Dalits were stripped and thrashed by cow vigilantes while they were skinning a cow that had been electrocuted.

“This is a far more gruesome incident than Una. In Una, the victims were beaten up and humiliated. Whereas, here a man lost his life amidst caste violence… The government of Gujarat has still not learned from its past mistakes,” Mr Mevani wrote on Facebook.

The Una incident provoked protests by the community and led to the prominence of Dalit leaders like Jignesh Mevani, who contested and won in the Gujarat election last year.

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Image: Indian Express

In July 2016, four Dalit men–Vashram Sarvaiya, his brother Ramesh Sarvaiya and their cousins Ashok and Bechar, were allegedly attacked by cow vigilantes for skinning a cow, with the attackers alleging that the four men had killed the cow. The four men who were attacked resided in Mota Samadhiyala. A video of the incident was posted online, and prompted national outrage. Following the incident, the Gujarat Crime Investigation Department arrested 43 people. 

However, currently, only six individuals are in custody. According to Govindbhai Parmar, an advocate representing the Sarvaiya family, 35 of 43 accused are out on bail, including the prime accused in the case. In fact, on Wednesday, April 25, two of the men who had originally been attacked in Una in 2016 were allegedly attacked again by one of the accused in the case,  Kiransinh Balubhai Darbar, who is out on bail. An FIR against Darbar and a friend who was with them at the time has been filed at the Una police station. 

Balu Sarvaiya, father of the two of the men who were assaulted, said, “It’s been over two years now that our sons were brutally flogged. However, till date, the state government has not extended any kind of help such as land or government jobs. Moreover, we haven’t got justice still and all the accused are on bail now.” He explained, “We have been forced to convert our religion because we think it would lend a momentum to the Dalit uprising that was witnessed after the flogging incident. Other Dalits too, who are silently suffering tortures, will also have to embrace Buddhism sooner or later”.

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Due to the callousness of the Patan District administration, Ambedkarite, Bhanubhai Vankar self immolated himself over a piece of land he was deprived of in Unjha taluka, alleged Jignesh Mevani in  press release. Recently elected, MLA has called for the resignation of the chief minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani. The desperation if a voiceless, poor Dalit is not heard in today’s Gujarat, he says. 

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Representative Image (Shutterstock)

Shardaben and her husband were both farm labourers. While she was at home with the children, her husband had gone to work in the morning. 

“Bodies of Shardaben Gohel, Rutvik, Doli, and Neha were found in a septic tank of a house allotted to them by the owner of the farm,” Mangrol police station sub-inspector H V Rathod said. Prima facie, the four were attacked by a sharp object, the officer said. Police have registered a case of murder and further investigation is on.

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यह यूं ही नहीं हुआ इसके लिए दलित समुदाय तीन दशकों से लड़ाई लड़ रहा था लेकिन असर दिखाया है वर्तमान समय में हो रहे दलित आंदोलन ने। गुजरात के उना कांड के बाद जिस तरह से पूरे देश भर में दलित समुदाय एकत्र हुए हैं और अपने हक की लड़ाई के लिए आंदोलन कर रहे हैं उसने सरकार की जड़ें हिला कर रख दी हैं। आग में घी का काम किया है युवा दलित नेता जिग्नेश मेवाणी ने। जिग्नेश मेवाणी ने दलित समुदाय में दंभ भरने का काम किया है।
 
आपको बता दें कि गुजरात सरकार ने कुछ साल पहले लैंड सीलिंग एक्ट के तहत ली गई जमीन को भूमिहीन दलितों में बांटने की योजना बनाई थी। अहमदाबाद की धंधुका तहसील में साल 1984 में 21 सौ एकड़ जमीन का कागजों में आवंटन भी किया गया, लेकिन लाभार्थियों को जमीन नहीं मिली। गुरुवार को धंधुका तहसील के सैकड़ों दलित जमीन दिलाने की मांग को लेकर अहमदाबाद में प्रदर्शन किया और जिलाधिकारी से भी मिले थे।
 
दलित नेता जिग्नेश मेवाणी ने प्रदर्शनकारियों को संबोधित करते हुए कहा था कि वाईब्रेंट गुजरात सम्मेलन में सरकार के साथ करार करने वाले औद्योगिक घरानों को ताबड़तोड़ जमीन दी जाती है, लेकिन दलितों को कानून होने के बावजूद जमीन का हक़ नहीं मिल रहा।
 
मेवाणी ने कहा था कि जहां-जहां जमीन का आवंटन दलितों को सिर्फ कागजों पर हुआ है वहां, 7 दिनों के भीतर दलितों को जमीन भी दी जानी चाहिए। उन्होंने चेतावनी दी थी कि अगर उनकी मांग नहीं मानी गई तो राज्यभर के दलित इकट्ठा होकर 10-11 जनवरी को होने जा रहे वाईब्रेंट गुजरात सम्मेलन का विरोध करेंगे।
 
इसके बाद राजस्व अधिकारियों ने जमीनों पर कब्जा देने का काम शुरू कर दिया। इंडियन एक्सप्रेस से बातचीत में अहमदाबाद की कलेक्टर अवंतिका सिंह औलाख ने बताया कि पिछले कई दिनों से दलितों को जमीनों पर कब्जा देने की कार्रवाई चल रही थी। उस संबंध में हमने एक समिति का भी गठन किया है, और हमने भूमि पार्सल की माप और प्रक्रिया पूरी करने के बाद दलितों को जमीन देने का काम शुरू कर दिया है।
 
कलेक्टर के मुताबिक, पूरी प्रक्रिया थोड़ी कठिन थी लेकिन जमीन पर कब्जा देने के लिए हमने सबसे बात कर ली थी। सरोदा गांव के रमन महेरिया ने बताया कि हमारे 115 परिवारों को जमीन पर भौतिक कब्जा दिया गया है। हालांकि सिर्फ 80 परिवारों को ही खेती लायक जमीन मिली है बाकि 35 परिवारों को बंजर जमीन मिली है हम इस संबंध में कलेक्टर से बात करेंगे।
 
धंधुका तहसील के प्रांत अधिकारी आर वी वाला ने बताया कि हमने कल रायका गांव का सर्वे करके लोगों को जमीन पर कब्जा दिया है और आगे हमने फेडरा गांव में भी माप का काम शुरू कर दिया है माप का काम होने के बाद हम और लोगों को जमीन पर कब्जा देंगे।

Courtesy: National Dastak
 

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