‘Neech jaat' (low caste) was a word Kavita (name changed) kept hearing when she was being stripped and beaten up. “They beat me with bamboo sticks. I kept saying ‘no.' They ripped off my gown, pulled my hair and dragged me out of the house to a nearby shop. Many were filming the act on mobile phones. In Hindi, they kept saying, ‘ neech jaat [low caste], come, take your turn.' Men were beating me too,” Kavita told The Hindu on Saturday.
From a polythene bag, Kavita's mother fished out a clump of hair plucked from the woman's head.
The shocking incident took place last week in a Mumbai slum, where a group of upper caste women assaulted the 22-year-old Scheduled Caste woman. A case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (POA) has been registered at the Sewree police station. The police have arrested 10 women and two men.
The arrest of Kavita's brother in a case of the rape of a minor girl triggered the assault. However, deep-seated caste hatred towards the family runs a long way back. There are two water pumps in the locality. “The main reasons are water and house. Ours is the only Dalit Marathi family in this area, and they want to oust us from here,” said her mother.
“It all began in 2007 when a water pump was sunk here. Sharda Yadav and Mumtaz [residents, now under arrest] would routinely demand money for the water supply. It's a community pump. We refused to pay up. I would fight against these illegal practices all the time. I have complained to the police several times about it. The women would say, ‘These people have gotten too big for their boots. Sticks should be shoved inside them.' They have used such abusive words that I cannot even utter them,” she said with difficulty.
“The rape case was just a pretext. Owing to the fights over water, there was already much anger [against the family]. So they targeted her [Kavita]. Her mother was also beaten up. The mother ran to the police, and they called the police control room,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Dilip Waghmare told TheHindu on telephone.
On the day of the incident, the victim's mother was the first to be beaten up. “They had a meeting somewhere. All of them entered together. The whole lane was packed with people. After I ran to the police chowky, help arrived on time. The molesters were arrested. They were laughing even while being taken away,” Kavita's mother said.
In 2008, she had written to the police about the death threats her family had received and the harassment her daughter suffered. “As my son was here, nobody dared touch us, but when he was arrested, they saw an opportunity.”
The family said Ms. Yadav, who led the attack, was a Shiv Sena worker, a claim Mr. Waghmare has denied.
None came to the rescue of Kavita, except her neighbour Sayeeda Quazi, who put a dupatta around her. Sayeeda's statement has been recorded.
The entire neighbourhood, meanwhile, is tight-lipped. “Something happened, but I was on work,” said a resident. Some said they were away at their native places, or away from home.
“Basically women were enraged by the rape of a girl. When they went to [Kavita's] house, her mother shot back, saying [it wasn't as if] it had happened to them. Any woman would be enraged by that, won't she?” asked a shopkeeper, who claimed to know nothing of the incident.
Kavita and her mother have been given police protection. “A police guard has been posted here. He checks on us at regular intervals,” her mother said.
