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UTTAR PRADESH

Shameful: Dalit girl held hostage in house and raped for two days, complaint to SP

POSTED ON JULY 3, 202

Satrikh/ Barabanki, In a locality of Satrikh police station, a Dalit girl was held hostage in house and raped for two days. Somehow, the girl reached home and narrated her ordeal to her family. After complaining to the SP, Satrikh police is talking about registering a case.

The girl, a resident of Satrikh town, alleges that on June 25, at around 9 am, she was going alone from her house to dump garbage in the ghur. Meanwhile, the opponent came and gagged her and dragged her to the Government Girls Inter College. Where he tied her hands and legs and raped her. On the same day, at around 9 pm, I was picked up from the Government Girls Inter College and taken to the Pradhan Mantri Shahri Awas built in a garden. I was kept hostage there for two days and kept raping me.

On June 27, the girl somehow escaped from the clutches of the accused and reached her home. Then she narrated the incident to her family. The girl alleged that when the family members talked about complaining to the police, the opposition started threatening to kill the family alive. Even after that, the girl went to the police station with the family, but the incident was not given importance there. After that, the girl was forced to complain to the SP on Monday. Inspector in charge Amar Kumar Chaurasia said that the girl had come to the police station with her family. Nothing like this was found in the investigation. The matter is already related to a love affair between the two. Still, the matter is being investigated. Strict action will be taken after the investigation.

 RAJASTHAN STATE

Alwar news: Protest continues by keeping the body of a Dalit girl for 18 hours, know why the debate started regarding the cremation ground

POSTED ON JULY 3, 

There has been a ruckus over the body of a Dalit girl from Khairthal district of Rajasthan for the last 18 hours. Let us tell you that a 24-year-old girl died after a long illness. After this, there was a ruckus in Danganheri village while taking her to the cremation ground. The road to the cremation ground from here has been closed. Due to which the last rites could not be performed. After this, the villagers started a protest by keeping the body in the middle of the road, which is continuing from Monday till Tuesday morning today.

Alwar: A dispute broke out over the road leading to the cremation ground in Danganheri village of Tapukda area of ??Khairthal district of Rajasthan. A 24-year-old girl Pooja of the Dalit community died on Monday after a long illness, people of the society reached the cremation ground to cremate her body, but due to the road being closed, they could not perform her last rites. Angered by this, people started protesting by keeping the body on the road and started shouting slogans against the administration and the people who had blocked the road

The protest is going on for 18 hours

After about 3 hours, when Tapukda SDM came to know about the matter, SDM Satyanarayan Suthar reached the spot and gathered information about the whole matter. The villagers have demanded the SDM to open the road. The villagers are adamant on sitting there with the body until the road is opened. And this protest is going on for the last 18 hours.

Pooja was the eldest of four sisters

Sarpanch Udmiram Poswal said that 24-year-old girl Pooja, daughter of Rajpal Meghwal, a resident of Danganheri village, died on Monday after a long illness. She was suffering from a disease of hand and leg stiffness for 12 years. She was taken to everywhere but could not be treated. Deceased Pooja’s father Rajpal drives an auto in Bhiwadi and has been taking care of his family by driving auto for about 10 years. The elder brother of the deceased Puja, Vijaypal, is in the army and is currently posted in Jodhpur. Puja has three younger sisters. She was the eldest of the four sisters.

Know the reason behind the dispute here

After Puja’s death, people reached the crematorium to perform her last rites but due to the road being closed, they are unable to perform the last rites. It is being told that Billu’s father, a resident of the village, had bought this land about 50 years ago. Earlier, there was a kutcha road to go to the crematorium on this land, but now wire fencing has been done around the field. Due to which the way to go to the crematorium has been closed. About 15 days ago also, a person had died and a similar dispute had occurred while taking him to the crematorium. At that time, the administration had reached the spot and opened the road, only then the deceased was cremated. But later the road was closed again by wire fencing and now the same problem has come again. Hundreds of men and women of the village including the family of the deceased girl are sitting on the spot with the dead body and the administration is trying to calm the matter by persuasion.

The incident took place at 2:00 pm

The deceased Pooja’s body was cremated at around 2:00 pm on Monday. But due to the road being closed, the family and villagers sat on a dharna on the road about 150 meters away from the cremation ground. Even after about 18 hours, the administration has not been able to reach any conclusion. About 150 to 200 people of the society and village are sitting on a dharna under the leadership of Congress candidate from Tijara assembly Imran Khan, Alwar District Sarpanch Sangh President Udmiram Poswal. Tijara DSP Shivraj Singh, Tapukda SHO Bhagwan Sahay are also present on the spot to handle any situation. Similarly, Tapukda SDM Satyanarayan Suthar along with Tapukda’s Halka Patwari and Revenue employees are present on the spot.

HARYANA MANUAL SCAVENGING NEWS STATE

Sewer cleaning or fight with death! Despite the law and the Supreme Court order, ‘manual scavenging’ continues in Karnal

POSTED ON JULY 2, 

The officials responsible for the city’s cleanliness system are not even averse to getting the sanitation workers to do inhuman work. Their lives are being risked for sewer cleaning. We are talking about Karnal Municipal Corporation, where the sanitation workers are being made to clean the sewerage with bare hands without safety equipment. Getting down into the sewerage filled with poisonous gases without safety equipment is like a fight with death.

According to the ‘Manual Scavenging Act 2013’ and the Supreme Court’s October 2023 order, it is a punishable offense to get any sanitation worker down into the sewer-septic tank without safety equipment. Despite this, the officials of Karnal Municipal Corporation are turning a blind eye. The workers are forced to bear the brunt of this. Those who clean the sewer without safety equipment are exposed to various poisonous gases. These include hydrogen disulfide, carbon oxide, ammonia and methane. Exposure to these gases can cause vision loss, respiratory problems and even seizures. Hydrogen disulfide gas can also cause death due to suffocation.

Vice Chairman of Safai Karamchari Aayog Azad Singh said that cleaning of sewerage manually is completely banned. If anyone does this, inform the Safai Karamchari Aayog, strict legal action will be taken. He said that now machines have arrived for cleaning sewerage. Municipal Corporation’s XEN Satish said that cleaning of sewerage lines is done by machines, if ever needed, then the Safai Karamchari goes with the operator with safety equipment. He said that there is no information about getting work done in the sewer manually, it will be found out.

19 lives lost in one year

“Getting sewerage cleaned manually by Safai Karamchari or anyone else is illegal. The person who gets this done, be it a contractor or an officer, can be punished. Safai Karamcharis are compelled to go down into the sewers and clean them with their hands, they have to do this inhuman work for their livelihood. Due to fear, they are unable to ask for safety equipment. 19 deaths have occurred in Haryana in one year while doing this work. – Rajkumar Bohat, State Convenor, National Safai Karamchari Andolan

 

 MADHYA PRADESH NEWS STATE

UP upper caste man abandons wife two years after marriage; woman attributes being Dalit

POSTED ON JULY 2, 2024

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Rashmi claimed that her husband had married her two years ago as per Hindu customs. She further added that he had no right to marry another woman without giving her a divorce.

Jabalpur: Almost seven years after marrying a woman belonging to Scheduled Caste, a priest has reportedly gone missing in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh. The couple had a love marriage against the wishes of their family members. They also have a child.

Families of both did not approve of marriage

The woman’s family also did not approve his work as a priest near Gwarighat in the city. Identified as Dipanshu Tiwari, the man mysteriously disappeared around two months ago. Ever since, his distraught wife, Rashmi, started searching for him in whatever way she

She also visited the police several times but to no avail. Rashmi has also claimed that

family members of her husband got him married to another woman, without her knowledge, and sent him to another place.

Rashmi further claimed that Tiwari had married her two years ago as per Hindu customs. She added that Tiwari has no right to marry another woman without giving her a divorce.

Despite this, Tiwari’s family got him married again, she alleged. The woman further said that Tiwari’s elder brother and parents used to insult and abuse her due to her caste and wanted to separate her from her husband.

‘Matter being probed’

With her making multiple rounds at the police station, Additional Superintendent of Police, Suryakant Sharma, has assured her of all support. He added that while the matter is being probed, actions will be taken accordingly.

Recently, a businessman in a village in Haryana’s Sonipat district allegedly hacked to death his brother and sister-in-law. He also allegedly killed thir minor son, police said. As per them, the murders allegedly took place allegedly due to inter-caste marriage of the couple. The accused was later been identified as 28-year-old Mandeep who used to rent out excavators at project sites. He reportedly killed his younger brother Amardeep.

Courtesy : News Nine

UTTAR PRADESH

Taliban punishment given to Dalit youth in Fatehpur, nails pulled out with pliers and attempt to bury alive

POSTED ON JULY 2, 2024

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Irshad Siddiqui, Fatehpur: A heart-wrenching incident has come to light from Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Here, the goons gave Taliban punishment to a Dalit laborer working in a tent house. The youth has been admitted to the district hospital in critical condition. In this case, the victim party has given a complaint letter to the police. According to the information, Pooja Kori, daughter of Santosh Kumar Kori, resident of Panchampur Majra Jagdishpur village of Bakewar police station area, told in the complaint letter given to the police that her brother Shivam Kori (19) had gone to Ramesh Tent House on the night of June 30 to install lights.

During this, 4 people including Anand Tiwari and Lodh Tiwari residents of Bakewar along with two other unknown people started abusing Shivam using casteist words. When Shivam protested against this, the above goons attacked the youth with an iron rod. The bullies did not stop here and crossed all limits of cruelty during this time. They pulled out Shivam’s toenails with a pliers and left him bleeding and in a dying state. In this incident, the victim’s left leg was badly damaged.

The bullies were taking him to bury him alive

Not only this, the family members allege that after this the bullies forcibly made Shivam sit on the bike and were taking him to bury him alive. On getting information about the incident, the family members reached the spot and on seeing them, the accused left Shivam in an unconscious state and fled from the spot. After this, the family members hurriedly admitted the youth in the district hospital in a critical condition. When they tried to contact SO Bakewar and DSP Bindki in the matter, the CUG number kept showing off. On the other hand, in this matter, Additional SP Vijay Shankar Mishra says that no such incident is in their knowledge.

Marginality and Justice

Rape Survivors From Nomadic Tribes Get No State Support, Compensation Or Counselling

Stigmatised and doubted when they report sexual violence, women from NT DNT communities are never informed about the resources the state provides to rape survivors

• Priyanka Tupe
Mumabi, Maharashtra | July 1, 2024

Illustration credit: Urvi Sawant

Trigger Warning: The article contains mentions of rape and sexual violence.

Sarita*, 25, a cane cutter from Jamkhed taluka in Ahmednagar, was working in a cane field in Naigaon village when her son’s teacher called that the boy had gone missing from school. Panicked, she decided to take a bus to Barshi in Solapur where the Ashramshala, a boarding school for tribal children, was located.

“I was waiting with my brother-in-law near the Bhoom bus stand. At the vadapav stall there, a constable and another man confronted us. ‘You look like thieves, come to the police station,’ he said. He demanded Rs 10,000 to spare me. I pleaded for my life and dignity. I said: ‘I am a poor daily wager, how can I arrange this much money?’” she recalls.

When the threats did not stop, Sarita called her mukadam (contractor) to transfer the bribe money to the accused over the phone. But the accused did not relent – on the pretext of taking her to the police station, he took her to the nearby fields and raped her. This was four months ago.

Sarita breaks down when she recalls her trauma. But nine days after the incident she was back at work in the cane fields. Her financial burdens had multiplied and she had no time to deal with her distress. For, she had to now not only repay the older uchal (loan) she took from the mukadam but also the Rs 10,000 he had sent to the accused. Incidentally, her son was later found near the ashramshala, having left the premises without informing his teachers. 

Sarita is a Gaypardhi, a highly marginalised community that is classified as NT-DNT (nomadic and denotified tribes), and highly vulnerable to sexual violence for reasons we discuss later. On paper, there are two compensation and one rehabilitation scheme she could have benefitted from the moment she had reported the crime two days after the incident with the help of the Gramin Vikas Kendra, an Ahmednagar-based non profit that works with the NT DNT community.

 She should have been informed by the investigating officer about the two state schemes run by the District Legal Services Authority – Manodhairya, which sanctions a financial assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh for the rehabilitation of survivors of sexual violence, and the Maharashtra Victim Compensation Scheme. She should also have been informed about the Bharosa counselling cell run by the police for the survivors of gender based violence.

Sarita, like several others of her community, does not have any identity papers or documents, no Aadhaar card and bank passbook that are needed to apply for the compensation. It was only after Jamkhed-based social activist Vishal Pawar of the Gramin Vikas Kendra stepped in that Sarita got an Aadhaar card in May 2024. 

The investigating officer should have sent a copy of the FIR, along with the medical report and the victim’s statement and the preliminary investigation report to the District Legal Services Authority within an hour by any mode of communication including SMS and email, but this was not done either. Once this is done, an immediate aid of Rs 30,000 should have been given within the 7 days under Manodhairya scheme. None of these procedures were followed.

Sarita is yet to get any compensation.

An FIR has been registered against the accused, a police personnel stationed at Bhoom police station in Dharashiv/ Osmanabad district, Dagadu Bhurake, and another civilian, Sagar Chandrakant Mane, under sections 376 ( 2) (A) (1), 323, 384, 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Both were arrested and released on bail last month by the Bombay High court Court’s Aurangabad bench though the sessions court had rejected their bail applications. 

Since both the accused are from the Scheduled Tribe community, Sarita cannot seek justice under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.  Gaypardhi, Pardhi and Phasepardhi groups are classified as ST in Maharashtra but they can access the Act’s provisions only if the accused is from an oppressor caste.

If Sarita* were paid the first couple of installments of the Manodhairya compensation after filing an FIR, she would not have had to go for cane cutting, a week after she was raped

Behanbox contacted the Bhoom police via phone calls and emails on why Sarita was not counselled on her right to various compensatory and rehabilitation schemes. We will update the article when we get a response.

There are around 5 million people belonging to NT DNT communities in Maharashtra and around 60 million in all of India as per the last census conducted in 2011, a number that would be significantly higher now. Historically labelled as ‘criminal tribes’, a stigma that is prevalent to the present day, their testimonies and complaints of crimes are hardly believed by the police. They are also not counted as a separate administrative category because of which crimes against them are not recorded in the national crimes database. All this makes it harder for them to access justice and any form of state support.

In fact, access to justice is unequal for most women and gender diverse persons from communities at the margins. In our new series “Violence,Marginality and Justice” Behanbox will report on the many structures– social, political, administrative and legal– that perpetuate gender based violence and access to justice. This is the first story in the series.

Prejudice Every Step Of The Way

As a daily wager Sarita does not have the kind of money needed to travel to a taluka like Jamkhed or bigger village, kharda, to process her documents for any scheme. It was activists and individuals who pulled funds together to help her with the many trips she had to make to the session courts of Ahmednagar. Currently  Pawar is helping her with the compliance processes for the state compensation schemes. 

Activists and women from the community tell us that few get justice for gender violence and this is compounded by low literacy levels. There is no official data on the number of cases of sexual violence against women from NT DNT communities in the National Crime Records Bureau. 

“The historic constitutional injustice these communities have suffered is the first hurdle in the process of securing justice in cases relating to gender based violence,” says Nikita Sonawane, lawyer and co-founder of Criminal Justice and Police Brutality Project. “For Vimukta women (as Sonawane chooses to describe the group) there are no administrative categories like SC or ST. At the police station level, there is no mechanism in place to track these cases.” 

The other problem is that given their historic criminalisation and resultant institutional biases, the community fears the police and administration. Activists say that despite the decriminalisation of the NT DNT community, the police and defence continue to use prejudicial statements such as ‘woman from a criminalised community’ or ‘not trustworthy’. 

In several interviews with rape survivors from the NT DNT communites from Mumbai, Kalyan, Satara, and Ahmednagar, we were told that the women not screened properly by doctors at government hospitals because they are considered ‘unclean’.

“Critical biological evidence in rape cases is often destroyed because survivors fear intimidation by the police and also because they lack knowledge of the relevant laws and support systems,” says Sonawane of the Criminal Justice and Police Accountablity Project. However biological evidence is not the only conclusive evidence in rape cases, courts have ruled time and again. 

“Patriarchal notions associated with family pride also prevent NT DNT women from seeking justice,” says Shaila Yadav, activist based in Satara. The men do not support women initiating legal action against those accused of gender violence because that would “malign the image and pride of the family”. 

Not ‘Ideal’ Victims

Sonawane says that in her experience the police often tend to attribute malafide intentions to complaints of sexual violence by Vimukta women, alleging that they want to defame or blackmail the accused. The police then weaponises the survivor’s case against her to reinforce the “criminal” label, she adds.

“These women are not considered ‘ideal victims’ and therefore trustworthy,” she says. As legal scholar Surbhi Karwa had said in her analysis on the subject for Behanbox, women who are sexually active, drink, have multiple partners, are from marginalised social groups, or sex workers or are generally outgoing fall outside the category of ‘ideal’ Indian women and their testimonies do not get the confidence they deserve.

 A teenage survivor of sexual violence from Kalyan told us that there is a deep-rooted institutional bias against women from the NT DNT groups who report harassment or rape. “I have experienced that people don’t believe us. They say: ‘Hyana kon haat lavanare (who will touch these women)?’” says Ambica* who belongs to the NT community. Vishal Pawar recalls several cases where he had to protest at police stations along with other activists to ensure the registration of an FIR in a rape case. 

“For these women, police stations are places associated with trauma, beatings, and arrests. These are not secure and safe spaces for survivors, they feel. I had to go to the police station with dozens of activists even in Sarita’s case and the police tried to stop them from registering an FIR, but our collective pressure compelled them,” he says. 

No Resources

Like Sarita, dozens of women we interviewed from Kalyan, Satara, Ahmednagar are not aware of the free legal aid provided for the poor and marginalised groups by the state funded District Legal Aid Services Authority. Nor are they aware of the processes to be followed at police stations and courts. Sarita, for instance, had no idea why she had to visit courts after the registration of an FIR or why she had to appear before the magistrate to record her statement under Cr.P.C. (Code of criminal procedure) section 164. 

Most daily wagers lack the money to fight cases because that means frequent travel and related expenses, as we said earlier. Sarita could not have done so without crowdfunding through Whatsapp. Not only travelling and filing expenses but daily wagers miss their wages during court hearings.

The laws meant to offer special protection to them from caste based gender violence remain largely ineffective for administrative reasons. NT DNT communities such as Pardhis are officially classified as ST in Maharashtra can be protected under The Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989  in the case of gender-based violence by oppressor castes. For this they need to produce a caste certificate at the police stations and courts but most Pardhis classified as ST lack caste certificates because of constant migration. 

Not all tribes are classified as ST across India. For example, a Pardhi woman categorised as ST in Maharashtra is not necessarily categorised thus in another state. This means that justice is not available to her in all contexts and at all locations. Nathpanthi Davari Gosavi, Beldar, Beards, Kolhati, Madari, Shikalgar, Ghisadi and several other tribes are not classified as ST in Maharashtra as they are in some states.  

‘Never Slept For Fear Of Assault’

“I never slept deep till I was in my early 30s because of the fear of sexual violence. Our pals (makeshift tents) don’t have the proper doors. Anyone could intrude any time and do whatever they wanted with us,” said Deepa Pawar, founder of the Anubhuti Trust, an NGO works for the community’s betterment. Pawar herself hails from the Ghisadi tribe – one of the nomadic tribes in Maharashtra. 

With no pucca houses, women from the NT DNT community live in constant fear of sexual violence/ Dhammasangini Ramagorakh

“The NT DNT community can’t afford pucca houses because of poverty, lack of income opportunities. They lack even basic facilities like toilets. Women and young girls have to go far from their settlement to defecate in the open and in areas that are not properly lit. These conditions make them vulnerable to sexual violence,” says Deepa Pawar.  

 “NT DNT families are a minority in villages. Generally there are 2-3 such families and they live outside the village limits so they cannot hope for collective support. If the accused is from the dominant caste, he gets the support from majority villagers however heinous the crime. The NT DNT community also fears retaliation by powerful accused persons and being boycotted by dominant caste villagers.” said Pawar of Gramin Vikas Kendra.  

Nomadic tribes engage in occupations that mostly keep them on the streets. This includes acrobatics, ritual dances and so forth that leave them vulnerable to harassment. 

“Sometimes we earn nothing, then we beg to feed our children. Couple of years ago, a restaurant owner at Dadar east touched me inappropriately when I went to beg at his counter. I shouted, he said he would call 100 (the police) and accuse me of theft. I ran away. My husband was sick so he was at home. Even if he could have been with me, what could we do? Aamhi rastyavarchi manasa, aamhala kon vicharta? (we are people on the streets, nobody cares for us),” says Ashwini* from Mumbai’s Cotton Green area.

She said she also fears feeding her infant on the streets because passing men would stare at her exposed breast. “Watchmen at parks don’t allow us in  because of our clothes so that was not an option. Dombari bai mhanje rastyane jata-yeta hat lavayla kunachi pan property, aani police tar aamhala ubha pan karat nahi (Dombari women are considered ‘public property’),” says Ashwini. 

Shaila Yadav says this attitude of disrespect is common. “Those who perform the ritual Vaghya-Murali dance in people’s homes are perceived as the ‘wives’ of the deity Khandoba and therefore ‘available’,” she says. 

Researcher Deepa Pawar shared a similar observation- “The stigma associated with their profession gives offenders a free hand to violate the dignity of these women.”  

*Names changed to protect identity.

• Priyanka Tupe

  Priyanka Tupe is a multimedia journalist with Behanbox based in Mumbai.

Malini Nair (Editor)

Malini Nair is a consulting editor with Behanbox. She is a culture writer with a keen interest in gender.