On the tenth anniversary of the Khairlanji massacre, in which four members of a Dalit family were murdered — the victims included two women who were raped — Dalit and progressive organisations are joining hands in a state-wide campaign, beginning Thursday, for a White Paper on atrocity-related crimes in Maharashtra.
For over a month now, Marathas in the State have been holding massive silent rallies to press for amendments to the The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, among other demands.
In 2006, Khairlanji village came into the national spotlight when two male and female members each of the Bhotmange family were killed by a mob of upper caste Kunbis over a land dispute. The women, Surekha and Priyanka, were stripped, paraded and sexually abused. Following a CBI inquiry and fast track court proceedings, only eight of the 46 accused were held guilty, of which six were sentenced to death and two were handed life sentences. However, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court awarded life imprisonment to all accused. The case is in the Supreme Court.
Subodh More, member, State Committee, Jati Ant Sangharsh Samiti (JASS), said, “The government is not following the case with integrity, which is why it is still pending. Dalits are extremely angry and, especially after the Maratha rallies, a sense of insecurity has entered their minds.” JASS, an umbrella body of Dalit and Left outfits, will be holding a one-day demonstration on September 29, the massacre’s anniversary, at Dadar and in Pune. This will be the beginning of State-wide campaign named ‘Khairlanji to Kharda’, ‘Rohith to Una’ and ‘Babri to Dadri’. Sanjay Dabhade, another JASS state committee member, said, “We are hearing that the atrocities Act has been misused against a particular community. We ask the government to come up with a White Paper on the implementation of this law and the so-called misuses by the SC and ST. ”
Shailendra Kamble, Convener, JASS said the government must step in to clear the ambiguity created by allegations of misuse by the SCs and STs. “We have a number of cases in other places including Sonai, Kharda, Javkheda, Shirdi and Navi Mumbai, where no conclusive verdict has been given by the court in cases of murders of Dalits. We demand special courts to deal with such cases and all culprits must be sent to the gallows immediately,” he said.
Dalits are extremely angry. After the Maratha rallies, a sense of insecurity has entered
their minds
Subodh MoreJASS
