Indian
Express: National: Saturday, 25 July 2015.
The clash between a Dalit caste and the Jat community left over a dozen injured |
On July 11, a
Dalit RTI activist, Baburam Chauhan of Jaisalmer, was brutally attacked and
humiliated for allegedly exposing land grabs by the dominant Rajputs of the
area. The same week marked two months since the Dangawas killings of Dalits.
Both incidents are reminders of how the continued denial of land rights to
Dalits strengthens the oppression of lower castes. While the CBI has begun its
inquiry into the Dangawas killings, and the police have been fairly prompt and
active in Jaisalmer, such attacks are likely to continue. These incidents are
growing signs of Dalit assertion as well as the extremely sharp reaction to it.
Baburam, a
government schoolteacher posted at Ranau village, was using the RTI since 2008
to expose illegal encroachments and allotments by non-Dalits on large tracts of
canal-irrigated lands reserved for the landless poor, SCs and STs. His exposés
provoked the dominant castes. Baburam was not only beaten up but deliberately
humiliated, with exemplary cruelty. After being waylaid on the road when he was
returning from school, he was allegedly abducted in a Jeep, mercilessly beaten,
his hair was cut and shaved, he was forced to consume urine, iron rods were
driven through his legs, before he was tossed towards the canal. It was chance
that he did not fall into the canal and lay inert at its side, where he was
found by a search party of family members.
While Baburam
managed to survive the attack, the Dangawas victims were less lucky. Two months
after the killings, Dalit families in Dangawas village in Nagaur district are
still haunted by the happenings of May 14 a bloody war that raged on for an
hour, resulting in the deaths of six people, with 11 hospitalised.
Dangawas has,
600 Jat families and 120 Dalit Meghwal families. The attack by a predominantly
Jat mob on the Dalit families was allegedly triggered by an attempt on the part
of Ratnaram Meghwal’s family to start living on land that was legally theirs by
evicting the family of Chimnaram Jat, who had apparently illegally occupied
their land for nearly half a century. A court order in March 2015 had ruled in
favour of Ratnaram Meghwal, after which he built a house and began living on
this land with his family. But on April 20, barely a month after the court’s
ruling, the two sons of Chimnaram Jat allegedly began constructing a water
reservoir on this land and cut down a few khejri trees. When Ratnaram objected
to this, the two left, but they returned the next day and allegedly sexually
assaulted a young Dalit widow sleeping alone in a hut. The police reportedly
refused to register an FIR. Tensions grew. The Jats set the date of May 14 for
a caste panchayat to discuss the issue of Ratnaram’s land. Sensing danger, the
Dalits wrote to the police seeking protection. But as the caste panchayat
concluded, hundreds of Jats reportedly went to surround the Dalit homes armed
with sticks, iron rods and other weapons.
Tractors were
allegedly used to crush three unarmed Dalits, many were mercilessly beaten up,
the women had sticks inserted in their private parts. Two Dalits succumbed to
their injuries in hospital later. Many among those attacked are seriously
injured and battling for survival, some have lost their limbs and others are
under treatment. One non-Dalit bystander reportedly died of bullet injuries.
Shockingly, this attack was later allegedly celebrated on social media by some
of the Jats. Their comments state that after the SC/ST atrocities act and
reservation policies, Dalits had become so bold that they needed to be reminded
of their place.
Not
surprisingly perhaps, the sarpanch, sachiv, patwari and many others in
administrative posts are Jats. Nagaur district has seen at least four other
instances of atrocities on Dalits in the last year. Both the Jaisalmer attack
and the Dangawas killings are examples of the reality of caste oppression. As
Dalits assert their basic rights, it is the state’s responsibility to implement
laws relating to land and human rights. Baburam Chauhan and Ratnaram Meghwal
should have had the state machinery standing by them as they took on their land
battles and faced upper-caste reaction. Despite grave threats in both Baburam
and Ratnaram’s cases, written appeals for police and administrative protection
went unheeded.
The sequence
of events in both Jaisalmer and Dangawas confirms how caste-ridden our politics
and administration are. While swift and exemplary action is crucial, those who
failed to prevent the attacks must also be punished. Policies must be in place
to proactively support Dalit communities. In the 15th Lok Sabha, an ordinance
was passed to strengthen the SC/ST atrocities act. Why did this “ordinance raj”
Central government allow this ordinance to lapse?
The Central
and state governments must carry out a proactive drive to protect and restore
Dalit land, strengthen the SC/ST atrocities act and its implementation. Land
encroachments constitute a continuum of violence against Dalits. We need to
stop looking the other way when we see the obvious injustice perpetuated.
Written
by Bhanwar Meghwanshi , Janani Sridharan : The writers are activists with the
MKSS and TISS