21.06.24.UT NEWS.Untouchables News.by Team Sivaji
Patna High Court Overturns Bihar’s Quota Increase for Dalits, Backward Classes, and Tribals
The Patna High Court has annulled the Bihar government’s decision to raise quotas for Dalits, backward classes, and tribals from 50% to 65%. The judgment responded to petitions arguing that the increase violated constitutional provisions on equality. The state had defended its move based on a caste survey.
In a significant judicial intervention, the Patna High Court on Thursday struck down the Bihar government’s last year’s decision to raise quotas for Dalits, backward classes, and tribals from 50% to 65%.
The ruling from a Division Bench led by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran came in response to multiple petitions challenging the legislation passed in November 2023.
The state government’s decision followed a comprehensive caste survey that updated population estimates for SCs, STs, OBCs, and EBCs. However, the court found the move in violation of Articles 14, 16, and 20 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality before the law, equal employment opportunities, and certain rights in criminal proceedings.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Courtesy : Devdiscourse
‘Dalits in Telangana village threatened with knives for celebrating Ambedkar Jayanti’: AIISCA demands action
Villagers say that authorities haven’t taken proper action against the accused and that even local media has shown apathy.
(Edited by Neena)
In a statement issued on Wednesday, 19 June, the All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA) condemned “upper caste” people from Telangana’s Pardi village for threatening people from the Scheduled Castes (SCs) for daring to celebrating Ambedkar Jayanti. Though the three accused were arrested, they are out on bail and the villagers continue to be boycotted.
The association said in their statement that people from the privileged ‘Savarna’ caste in Pardi village in Telangana’s Nirmal district allegedly opposed an initiative by the SC community to commemorate Ambedkar Jayanti. Further, when they went ahead with the celebration, Dalit people were boycotted by the entire village.
“Plans were underway to commemorate the occasion by erecting a compound around Babasaheb’s statue, a gesture deeply rooted in respect and reverence. However, members of the upper caste population opposed this initiative. The women took the initiative to celebrate the birth anniversary and started building the compound themselves, but the upper castes obstructed the construction,” said AIISCA in the statement.
Boycotted and threatened
Despite being threatened that they will be killed, the villagers went ahead to celebrate the Jayanti on 14 April and build a compound and have been facing its consequences since then. “Savarna Hindu insulted the women of the SC community, threatened to kill them and challenged the community’s right to celebrate, creating tension. This conflict underscores the continuing social divisions and the ongoing struggle for equality and inclusiveness,” the association said in the statement.
As the oppressed people went to police and filed a complaint of atrocity under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, three people – Ramlu Dhotula, Sainath Sugkari , Sainath Engmud – are now out on bail.
Talking about the tension in the village and being threatened, one of the villagers told South First, “For the last twenty years, there has been no fights. We built the Ambedkar statue with our money and we wished to celebrate but the men has abused us in unparliamentary language.”
She further said that they don’t give any respect to women and asked “how are we supposed to live amid this? ” The villagers say that authorities have taken no action and that even local media has shown nothing but apathy.
What are the authorities doing?
Speaking to South First, Rohini Bhadarge, Vice President of AIISCA said that some influential person in the village boycotted the villagers from the SC community and said would levy a fine if anyone employs them. “The incident became serious after a powerful individual in the village boycotted the entire village. Villagers had filed a atrocitiy case against the individual after which they were boycotted. The villagers have no access to ration or employment in the village. A ?5000 fine is levied on employers who employee any of the boycotted villagers.”
She also stressed that authorities have taken no action and that the association is planning to meet with the boycotted villagers soon.
Expanding on the violence faced by Dalit people in the village, the association’s statement said, “They are likely to be attacked by upper caste people because there are very few houses of the SC community in that village and such injustices are frequent…reports of discrimination, including the practice of untouchability, and harassment of women based on their clothing have emerged.”
Stressing on the need for urgent attention and intervention from local authorities to ensure the well-being and safety of all community members, the statement further said, :”Now the upper caste casteists have again created an atmosphere of tension and fear in the village. Casteists are walking around with knives in Dalit settlements and can kill any Dalit person. If the Telangana government as well as the police do not pay attention to this serious incident, the consequences may be dire.”
Lastly, it asked for authorities to ensure that the boycott of the community is immediately abandoned and the right to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti is safeguarded.
Courtesy : TSF
Bengaluru: Father of Dalit medical student who committed suicide alleges harassment by fellow students
On June 10, 22-year-old medical student Lokendra Singh Dhande committed suicide at the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research Institution in Bengaluru. His father says he was being harassed for being a Dalit.
Mumbai: On June 10, 22-year-old medical student Lokendra Singh Dhande was found hanging from the ceiling of the boys’ hostel at the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Research Institution in Bengaluru, where he had been staying for the past ten months. Lokendra, a Dalit youth from the remote Barmer district of Rajasthan, did not leave behind any suicide note. However, his father—a lawyer and an Ambedkarite Buddhist—alleged that his son was harassed and tortured by his three roommates, who are students at the same college.
An academically bright student, Lokendra had secured admission to the medical college after two attempts in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). After enrolling in August last year, Lokendra moved 2,000 kilometres to Bengaluru. “This was the first time my son was going to study in a big city outside Rajasthan,” his father Amit Dhande told The Wire. Amit’s allegations against the three college students are based on what his son shared a month ago. “A month ago, one of the three students approached me on the pretext of complaining about my son. He made some false claims against my son. When I asked my son about this, he told me how his roommates keep harassing him and making false allegations,” Amit said. Since these allegations were mostly mild, Amit said he did not pay much attention to them. He felt that college-going kids take time to adjust. But now that Lokendra has taken his life, the father says he should have encouraged his son to share more. He said, ‘I had no idea that my son was struggling to such an extent that he decided to commit suicide.’
According to Amit, the three roommates would regularly ‘harass’ Lokendra and ask him to pay for their food. Amit claimed, ‘They used to call it a party and forced Lokendra to pay for their food every few days. But when it was his turn to pay for the food, they would kick him out of the group. My son felt isolated and badly harassed by their constant harassment.’
He also said that the roommates also insulted Lokendra on the basis of his caste. Let us tell you that the Dhande family belongs to the Meghwal community, which is a Scheduled Caste in Rajasthan.
On June 10, at around 3 pm, Lokendra was found hanging from the ceiling of his room in the hostel. Mother Neeta Dhande says, ‘We were informed about our son’s death by the college principal.’ According to his parents, the college authorities unlocked Lokendra’s phone using his fingerprint and dialled Amit’s number. The family, who are sitting far away in Rajasthan, took more than 24 hours to reach Bengaluru.
Amit said, ‘It was not easy for us. We had to reach Ahmedabad by hiring a vehicle and then flew to Bengaluru. On reaching there, neither the college principal nor any senior official came to meet us. In our absence, the college was the guardian of my child. They did not care for him when he was alive and they did not care even when he died.’
The family also had to arrange for taking their son’s body back home. The family believes that there is more behind Lokendra’s suicide. They claimed, ‘When my child’s body was found, the college should have avoided touching any of his belongings. But they unlocked his phone. We later found out that messages were deleted from all the college WhatsApp groups Lokendra was a part of.’
The Commercial Street police station has registered Amit’s complaint, but none of the three non-Dalit students have been named as accused in the case.Amit told The Wire that Lokendra’s four siblings and his mother are in shock after his death.
“My two children are preparing for medical studies. How can I let them go far away from the city to study medicine now?” his father asks.
Amit, who has been part of several anti-caste campaigns in Barmer, has demanded a CBI probe into the case. Several anti-caste organisations have written to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and President Draupadi Murmu, demanding a fair probe and compensation for the family.
Jai Bhim Nagar slum demolition: 750 Dalit families homeless, Baba Saheb’s great grandson Rajratna Ambedkar said- “We did not vote for BJP, so…”
In Mumbai’s Powai, the homeless families are living on the streets under the open sky for about 2 weeks, work is at a standstill, some NGOs are arranging drinking water and Khichdi etc. for these families.
Mumbai- Despite the clear rule in the Government Orders (GR) not to demolish illegal settlements during monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished the homes of about 750 families in the Jai Bhim Nagar slum in Powai under the anti-encroachment campaign and made them homeless during the monsoon. It is said that this settlement was settled as a labor camp during construction work around 1984, after which three generations of working families started living here. Apart from Maharashtra, families from Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and other states are also included here.
This demolition drive took place on June 6, just two days after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. Hundreds of families who were rendered homeless due to the demolition of their houses have been forced to live under the open sky for the past two weeks.
Rajratna Ashok Ambedkar, the great grandson of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution and the national president of The Buddhist Society of India, has warned of an agitation in support of the Jai Bhim Nagar slum dwellers. Rajratna Ambedkar sat on an indefinite strike on Tuesday, but the strike ended within a few hours after the official side offered mediation and assured a solution to the issue within two days.
In an exclusive conversation with The Mooknayak, Rajratna Ambedkar said that most of the families living in the slum belong to the Scheduled Castes and make a living by working as labourers, driving rickshaws or doing other odd jobs. “As per government rules, demolitions are prohibited between June 1 and September 30, but the Shinde government demolished the slums at the behest of the BJP, not only were the houses demolished but the worst part was that the police beat up innocent slum dwellers, women, children and the elderly were beaten up, even a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage due to the police brutality, which is highly condemnable.” Ambedkar called the demolitions a gross violation of human rights and legal norms. He said the slum residents, who are mainly Dalits from various states including Maharashtra and West Bengal, were not given any prior notice before the demolition.
He stressed that the district collector’s permission is required to launch such anti-encroachment drives, which the BMC clearly ignored. Ambedkar said the rules clearly prohibit evictions during the monsoon so that slum dwellers do not have to live in an unsafe environment. “During the monsoon, they cannot force anyone to leave their homes, and there are several government resolutions regarding this rule that have been deliberately ignored,” Ambedkar said. Since the demolition, the slum dwellers have been spending day and night on the streets without shelter, food or clothing, and many of them are women and children who are not safe. To top it all, the police have registered false cases of stone-pelting and assault against those who protested during the drive.
Most of the families are from various Scheduled Caste communities and have been residents for 25 to 30 years. Describing the campaign as politically motivated, Ambedkar said, “The Lok Sabha election results were declared on June 4 and the demolition was carried out just two days later. After Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress party won the election from here, the BJP has taken action as a political vendetta.” Rajratna Ambedkar alleged that houses in areas where residents did not vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were deliberately targeted, and called the act completely despicable.
The representatives who came to talk to Ambedkar demanded immediate action, including the provision of alternative housing for the displaced, suspension of the BMC officer responsible for the demolition and filing an FIR against the police officers involved in the violence. He stressed that the community will not rest until justice is served.
We want a middle way, the demand for houses for displaced slum dwellers is justified, they should be given houses at an alternate location, the opposition has asked for two days, if a proper decision is not taken in these two days then we will start our agitation again, the dharna has been temporarily lifted, Rajratna told The Mooknayak.
However, in a report by The Indian Express, a senior civic official said, “The GR is valid, but the demolition drive in Jai Bhim Nagar was carried out by the BMC based on court orders.” The demolition was delayed due to the model code of conduct being in place.
Meanwhile, officials claim that the land was privately owned but was given to Hiranandani Builder in 2007 for a temporary labour camp. When the builder did not vacate the land at that time, several individuals approached the MSHRC to vacate it, and attempts were made earlier to vacate it. HT reports that ward officer Bhaskar Kasgikar denied any possibility of temporary housing or compensation from BMC, saying, “The land is reserved for government offices. The owner will have to build them.” Meanwhile, The Mooknayak tried to get information about the homeless families. The Buddhist Society of India’s treasurer Shashikant Jadhav said that the police did not allow a sit-in protest in front of the Buddhist Vihar here on Tuesday. Some NGOs are providing drinking water to the people through tankers, khichdi and biscuits etc. are also being delivered by the volunteers of these organisations, but the families are in great trouble due to the stoppage of work.
Tamil Nadu: Advice to remove caste-indicative names, identity to prevent caste discrimination among school students
In August 2023, the Tamil Nadu government had asked Madras High Court judge K. Chandru to give suggestions to the government to prevent caste violence and discrimination after two Scheduled Caste children were attacked by a group of students in a school in Tirunelveli district.
New Delhi: A one-member committee headed by Justice K. Chandru to prevent caste-based discrimination and violence among school children in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday (June 18) submitted its report to the state Chief Minister MK Stalin.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the major recommendation in this report is to remove caste-indicative words from the names of all government and private schools and to make special laws for social inclusion.
Prepared by retired Madras High Court judge K. Chandru, the report suggests measures to prevent caste-based violence among school and college students in the state. It says that the government should immediately ban the caste-revealing identity of children and a law should be introduced to implement the policy of social inclusion. It is known that in August last year, the government had appointed Madras High Court judge K Chandru to stop the violence and give suggestions to the government after two Scheduled Caste children were attacked by a group of students in a school in Tirunelveli district. Justice Chandru told Hindustan Times that he visited several districts including Tirunelveli, Madurai and Coimbatore for this report and took responses from 2,742 people. This includes common people, retired government employees, people associated with NGOs. However, he has not received any response in this matter from any teachers’ union or student organization. His 18-page report says, ‘Students should be prevented from tying any kind of thread on the wrist, wearing rings or putting any mark (tilak etc.) on the forehead, among other caste-based identifiers. If these rules are not followed, then apart from advising their parents or guardians, appropriate action should be taken against them.
Social Justice Student Force (SJSF) should be established
The report recommends that the state government should establish a Social Justice Student Force (SJSF), which includes ‘students from all communities’ and unites in efforts to fight social evils.
This report also makes several recommendations for schools. It says that words like ‘Kallar Reclamation’, ‘Adi Dravida Kalyan’, which directly identify caste, should be removed from the names of all schools. Existing private schools should also remove caste-based names and the government should take action against schools that fail to do so.
Apart from this, if an educational agency wants to establish a new school, the conditions for permission to start the school should also include the condition that there will be no caste-related word in the name of the school.
The committee has also talked about removing the caste-related names of those who donate to the schools.
Among its long-term recommendations, the report suggests the government to implement a policy of social inclusion and enact a separate law governing all students to eliminate caste discrimination.
The report says, “This law should impose duties and responsibilities on students, teachers and non-teaching staff as well as the management of institutions and prescribe a mechanism for supervision, control and sanctions for non-compliance of these instructions.”
The report also has recommendations for teachers. It suggests that the appointed School Education Department officials, such as the Education Officer, should not be from the dominant caste of the area. Also, teachers should not refer to students by their caste directly or indirectly.
The report says, “The Teacher Recruitment Board (TRB) should ascertain the qualifications of teachers as well as their attitude towards social justice issues while recruiting them and take this into account for recruitment.”
Teachers should be aware of various laws before the session begins
According to the recommendation of the committee, ‘A mandatory orientation program should be organized for teachers and staff of all schools and colleges before the start of each session regarding various laws related to social issues, caste discrimination and sexual violence-harassment, drugs, ragging and crimes against Dalits. They should also be told about the consequences of violating those laws.’
The report also suggests making rules regarding Annual Confidential Report (ACR). The recommendation states that the ACR for officers and headmasters should include a column to record their attitude towards Scheduled Castes and Tribes, as well as proper procedures should be followed to maintain these records.
Apart from this, the state should statutorily prescribe a code of conduct for teachers and staff of government-run educational institutions.
The report said that the curriculum for the B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) degree, which qualifies one to become a teacher, prepared by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University (TNTEU), as well as the curriculum for the Diploma in Elementary Education, prepared by the Tamil Nadu Board of State Council of Educational Research and Training (TNSCERT), should be completely revised to ensure inclusiveness.
An expert committee of teachers should review the curriculum prescribed for school students and make suggestions to eliminate prejudice and include content that promotes social justice values, non-discriminatory attitude and concepts of equality.
Create a post of School Welfare Officer
The retired judge has also recommended the state government to create a post of School Welfare Officer (SWO) to monitor the functioning of schools on issues of ragging, drug menace, sexual harassment and caste discrimination-related offences and address these issues in accordance with the law. In the report, Justice Chandru has said that since the issue of caste discrimination extends beyond student campuses and needs to be resolved at the social level, the committee therefore advises the government to take appropriate steps to address this issue at the social level to eradicate caste and promote communal harmony.
Dalit maid assaulted by employers in Pilibhit
A 32-year-old Dalit domestic help was gang raped in Pilibhit while performing housekeeping duties at a house in a residential colony on March 13. The woman was attacked by her employer and his younger brother, who dragged her into a room and bolted the door.
Despite her attempts to escape, the accused overpowered her and threatened her, using casteist slurs. She approached the police to file an FIR, but her request was denied. However, following a court order from the special judge for SC/ST, an FIR was lodged on Tuesday evening.
Pilibhit Kotwali SHO Naresh Kumar Tyagi said a case has been filed against the two under IPC sections 376 D (gang rape), 342 (unlawful detention), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the SC/ST Act.
Courtesy : TOI
Bihar: Dalit woman beaten up in Gaya, husband’s hands chopped off when he came to her rescue, arrested
A heart wrenching incident has come to light from the district. Here some people were beating a Dalit woman, when the husband of the Dalit woman came in between to save her, his hands were chopped off with an axe.
Gaya. A case of a deadly attack on a Dalit youth and chopping off his hands with an axe has come to light in Gaya district of Bihar. The incident is from Tikari police station area. The victim’s wife had lodged an FIR with the police regarding the matter. Information about this incident was shared on social media on June 17. Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi also visited the victim Sanjay Manjhi at his home in connection with the incident.
According to the information, the wife of Dalit youth Sanjay Manjhi started putting mud in front of the house to prevent water from entering her house. Eight people including Shivendra Mishra, Damodar, Ravi Mishra, Anand Bharadwaj opposed this. All of them started abusing the Dalit woman. When the Dalit woman opposed this, they caught hold of her with wrong intentions and started beating her. When the woman’s husband Sanjay Manjhi protested, the criminals attacked his hand with an axe and cut it.
According to Gaya police, this incident is of June 5. Taking action on the matter, all the accused have been arrested. At the same time, a case has also been registered under relevant sections. Police said that the case has been registered in case no. 241/24, date-05. 06.2024, section- 147/148/149/341/323/324/325/ 326/307/354/506 IPC and 27 Arms Act and 3 (i)(r)(s)(w)3(ii)(v-a)SC/ST Act.
Giving information, the police said that the incident is of June 5 and is now going viral on social media. Within an hour of filing the FIR in connection with this incident, all the criminals were arrested by registering a case under relevant sections. According to the police, at present all the criminals are behind bars.
Chandrashekhar’s victory from Nagina and the future of Dalit politics
Nagina Lok Sabha seat of Uttar Pradesh is in the news because for the first time, Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) President Chandrashekhar Azad has won from this seat. Chandrashekhar was pitted against BJP, BSP and alliance candidates. Chandrashekhar won by 1,51,473 votes. He got a total of 5,12,552 votes. BJP candidate got 3,61,079 votes, Samajwadi Party got 1,02,374 votes and BSP candidate got 13,272 votes. Thus, Chandrashekhar’s victory can be said to have been by a good margin.
By SR Darapuri
The main reason for Chandrashekhar’s victory by a very good margin is the population mathematics of Nagina. Nagina is a reserved seat. The number of voters here is approximately 16 lakhs. It has about 46% Muslims and 21% Dalits and about 30% Chauhan, Saini and other backward class voters. There are five assembly constituencies in this Lok Sabha constituency, which include Nathaur, Najibabad, Nagina, Dhampur and Noorpur.
Earlier Nagina was a part of Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency, which later became Nagina Lok Sabha constituency after delimitation. Due to the high percentage of Muslims and Dalits, this Lok Sabha seat has been the centre of Dalit politics. Mayawati was elected MP from here as a BSP candidate in 1989, while Congress’s Meera Kumar won in 1985. BSP candidate Girish Chandra from the SP-BSP alliance won from this seat.
The main reason for Chandrashekhar’s victory on the Nagina seat has been the full support of Muslim voters and a large part of Dalit voters. Mayawati has considered this area as her stronghold, but this time Dalits and Muslims have voted for Chandrashekhar instead of voting for Mayawati with the aim of defeating BJP. That is why the BSP candidate got very few votes and came fourth.
Some people are considering Chandrashekhar’s victory as the beginning of a new Dalit politics, while Mayawati is continuously declining. It is worth considering that Chandrashekhar has neither any Dalit agenda nor any progressive ideology. The failure of Bahujan politics of Kanshiram that he talks about taking forward is in front of everyone and Mayawati is the biggest successor of Kanshiram. It will not be possible to defeat the Hindutva politics of BJP with only Dalit Muslim alliance. For this, a large democratic class alliance and an alternative pro-people economic policy is needed against the economic politics that is pro-corporate and fosters global finance capital. Therefore, our firm opinion is that Dalits should come out of the politics of identity and become a part of a large democratic class alliance in which the issues of Dalits, backward classes, minorities, tribals, laborers and farmers should be at the centre. It is worth considering that caste politics only strengthens Hindutva politics, defeating which is our main objective.
S R Darapuri, National President, All India People’s Front
Courtesy : Counter Currents
The maximum number of complaints in National Commission for Women are from Uttar Pradesh, on this number only 3 complaints are from Delhi, Manipur
National Commission for Women has received 12600 complaints of crime against women. In this, the maximum number of cases have been registered from Uttar Pradesh. After that comes Delhi and Maharashtra. 3,213 complaints of domestic violence and 1,963 complaints of dowry harassment have been received. In 2023 also, the maximum complaints of atrocities against women were received from UP.
National Commission for Women has received the maximum complaints from Uttar Pradesh, on this number only 3 complaints from Delhi, Manipur. Total 12600 complaints of crime against women registered 12,600. This is not just a figure. Rather there are complaints related to atrocities on women this year. In 2024, 12,600 complaints of crime against women have been registered. National Commission for Women i.e. NCW has given this information. In this, the maximum complaints have been registered from Uttar Pradesh.
After UP, Delhi was at second place and Maharashtra at third place. Interestingly, only three complaints of crime against women have been registered from Manipur, which has been burning in the fire of large-scale ethnic violence for the last one year.
How many complaints in which state?
Of the total 12,648 complaints received by the NCW so far in 2024, 6,492 were from Uttar Pradesh. According to the official data of the panel, Delhi was second with 1,119 complaints, while Maharashtra had 764. Other states like Tamil Nadu registered 304 complaints, Karnataka 305, Bihar 586, Madhya Pradesh 516, Haryana 509, Rajasthan 409 and West Bengal 307 complaints.
As far as the categories of crimes against women are concerned, the highest number of complaints at 3,567 are related to harassment. This was followed by 3,213 complaints of domestic violence. According to the data, 1,963 complaints of dowry harassment were received, 821 of molestation, 524 complaints are related to the lax attitude of the police against women, there were 658 complaints of attempted rape.
It said that there were 495 complaints of sexual harassment, 339 of cyber crime, 345 of stalking and 206 of honor crime. A total of 28,811 complaints related to women were registered by NCW in 2023.
UP was ahead last year too
According to the data released by the National Commission for Women in 2023, Uttar Pradesh was at the forefront in the case of crime against women. In 2023, a total of 28,811 complaints related to crimes against women were received, out of which about 16,109 i.e. 55 percent complaints were received from UP alone.
Last year also Delhi was at second place and Maharashtra at third place. 2,411 complaints were registered in Delhi and 1,343 in Maharashtra. These included Madhya Pradesh (11,155), Bihar (1,312), Haryana (1,011), Rajasthan (608), Tamil Nadu (569), West Bengal (569), and Karnataka (501). The NCW received 30,864 complaints from across the country in 2022, the highest figure since 2014.
Beef seized & homes razed — what led to demolition drive in Bhainswahi village in MP’s Mandla
While Mandla district administration maintains demolition notices were served to families in Eidgah mohalla of Bhainswahi village, villagers deny claim they were warned in advance.
IRAM SIDDIQUE
Bhaswahi/Mandla: Soaked to the skin, Roshni and her mother-in-law Sameena Qureshi stand on the rubble that was once their ‘home’. They use bare hands to sift through the debris of whatever is left of their steel cupboards, water cooler and other items they can sell to a scrap dealer to then buy two square meals for their children who sit nearby.
Roshni’s was among the 11 houses in Eidgah mohalla of Bhainswahi village in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district from where police allegedly recovered weapons for cow slaughter last week, along with beef stored in refrigerators.
In the aftermath of the recoveries, the 11 houses — all owned by Muslims — were demolished on account of being illegal structures.
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Ramesh Maravi, husband of the sarpanch of Bhainswahi, said Eidgah mohalla had become a “nuisance” the past couple of years and complaints were given to the police about its residents as way back as four years ago. “We cannot say that the demolitions were correct, but certainly everyone in the village is happy with the action,” he told ThePrint.
Officials maintain that the recoveries and demolition drive were unrelated and that the owners of the now-demolished houses were issued notices in advance.
Saloni Sidana, District Collector of Mandla, told ThePrint that owners of the demolished houses in Eidgah mohalla “were issued notices in the month of May and even in 2022”.
“Earlier, too, efforts were made to remove the encroachments considering that it (land in question) is notified as bade-chhote jhaadon ka jungle or grazing land in government records, but on many occasions, it was perhaps sensed that carrying out a drive may lead to loss of life, which should be avoided at any cost.
“But, on 15 June, after all the men of the houses escaped, the demolition was carried out because the houses were illegally constructed on government land,” Sidana added.
She maintained that all the houses on that parcel of land are illegal, and those still intact will be acted against in the coming days.
Maravi, however, denied having any knowledge of prior demolition notices and claimed he learnt of the police action only on Friday night when teams of officers went to the village and sought his assistance. “At first, I thought it might be some minor issue, but when I reached there, police were trying to put cows roaming around, into vehicles. Some refrigerators were seized and they had cow meat in them,” he said.
Ashar Warsi, an Advocate at the Indore High Court, told ThePrint that in matters of demolition, those accused of encroachment must be served a notice 15 days in advance and granted time to furnish a “reasonable reply”.
“It is important to note that these days the administration has made it a habit to demolish (structures linked to suspects/accused) immediately after a crime is committed. It is surprising to see that the administration takes cognizance of the illegality of any structure only once after a crime is committed, and not before that,” he said.
‘We are left with absolutely nothing’
Located about 30 km from Mandla city, Bhainswahi has some 160 houses, of which those belonging to members of SC and ST communities account for around 100 in the Patel mohalla. In addition to those, nearly 60 houses of Muslims, mostly Qureshis, are scattered about Eidgah mohalla and Masjid mohalla.
Days before the demolition drive, locals had intercepted a pickup vehicle dragging a cow by a rope at Dithori village on the outskirts of Mandla city.
A probe into the incident led police to Eidgah mohalla of Bhainswahi. According to Mandla Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajat Saklecha, a police team went to Bhainswahi Friday night in search of one Wahid Qureshi in connection with the Dithori incident, but he spotted the police and tried to flee. He was later apprehended and is now in judicial custody.
Subsequently, all houses in Eidgah mohalla were searched and weapons used for cow slaughter allegedly recovered, along with beef stored in refrigerators.
“Residents of these villages would throw cow bones and other dirt into Sarva river, which was used by others to bathe and clean their clothes. There was a lot of dirt and filth around their locality and everyone had been objecting to it,” said Maravi.
Eidgah mohalla, with some 30 houses, now resembles a ghost town — with nearly half of the houses here reduced to rubble, and those still intact housing occupants too afraid to step out.
Her house among those demolished last week, Sameena pointed to a mangled motorcycle that lay atop the debris. “When police came, they did not allow us to remove anything (from the house). When we tried to take at least the new motorcycle aside, they crushed it further and threw it away.”
“Let us assume for two minutes that we are all criminals and our houses were illegal and hence they demolished it. But is this the way to do it? Had they given us any notice or alerted us, we could have removed our belongings, moved someplace else and been able to rebuild our lives for our children,” said a sobbing Roshni.
“Today we are left with absolutely nothing, not even a pair of clothes for our children, who were soaked after the rain, to change into.”
She added that they learnt later that the district administration had issued demolition notices about a week ago. “There is some talk that notices were handed to the sarpanch, but why did they never reach us? Why did neither the sarpanch nor the district administration give us these notices?”
Currently absconding, Roshni’s husband Naseer is one of 11 men booked by the police under sections 4, 5 and 9 of The Madhya Pradesh Govansh Vadh Pratishedh Adhyadesh, 2004.
While section 4 prohibits slaughter of cow progeny, section 5 states that no person shall possess or transport beef of any cow progeny slaughtered in contravention of the provisions of the act. Section nine deals with penalties and states that whoever contravenes or attempts to contravene or abets the contravention of the provisions of sections 4, 5 and 6 shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or both.
‘Should we sleep on roads in this rain?’
Listening to Roshni talk, Rasoolan Bi stepped out from one of the intact houses, which belonged to her daughter Naseema.
Rasoolan, who lives in Mandla town, had rushed to her daughter’s side upon learning of the demolition drive Saturday.
“By the time I arrived, the houses of my brothers Moin and Mateen had been demolished. I couldn’t help them. So I rushed to my daughter’s house and asked bade sahab (senior officer) if hers would also be demolished. He gave us an hour to remove what we could. With the help of my daughter and four granddaughters, I vacated the entire house within an hour, but later they said her house would not be demolished,” she told ThePrint.
She added that a policeman intervened as she tried to remove some kitchenware and grain from the debris of her brother’s house so that their children could be fed. “Wo police wala bola… Tere ko mein kal se dekh raha hun, bahut madat kar rahi hai sabki, zyada natak kiya toh agla ghar tera todenge aur agli baar seedha goli maarne ke order leke aayenge.”
(The policeman said… I have been watching you since yesterday, helping everyone a lot, if you indulge in a lot of drama the next house we demolish will be yours and the next time we will come with orders to shoot you)
With her son-in-law in Dubai and daughter and grandchildren now homeless, Rasoolan said, tears in her eyes, that she tried to move them to a rented house in Mandla town, but in vain. “Not only have the police warned others in the locality against sheltering us, but when I went to rent a house in Mandla, no one was willing to give us homes after being told that we are from Bhainswahi. Should we now sleep on the roads in this rain?”
Of the 11 houses demolished last week, one also belonged to Asiya Bi.
When ThePrint visited Bhainswahi Tuesday, she was seen retrieving from the rubble newly purchased utensils, a mixer grinder, and a clothes iron, among other belongings she had painstakingly collected over the years for her youngest daughter’s wedding.
Asiya Bi said she sought the help of her son-in-law Javed who used a hammer to sift through the debris and recover those household items. “If the police or administration had given us notices in advance, we could have removed these items from the house. And if the administration has demolished these houses saying they are illegal, are only 11 of the 30 houses in the mohalla illegal? What about others? Shouldn’t all be demolished?”
Asked how he saw the sequence of events, Warsi said on the one hand, a person is being tried for a crime with an FIR against him and immediately after their families are punished by demolishing their homes. “Punishing a whole family for one person’s crimes, giving double punishment to the accused, has become a pattern for the administration, popularly known as bulldozer justice, which is a sheer violation of constitutional values,” he said.
( by Amrtansh Arora)
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