DALITS/SCHEDULED CASTES - 2013 - Indian Social Institute

and exclude them from other facilities. The problem began after a Muslim woman had a fight with a Dalitgirl over picking up dung from a field. “The woman assaulted the girl. After this, there were rumours thatDalits were planning to file a case under the Atrocities Act. In anticipation, the mukhiya, sarpanch andzilla parishad (ZP) members had a meeting in which they told the Muslim community to socially andeconomically boycott Dalits. They said Dalits were filing cases under the Act,” Superintendent of PoliceManoj Kumar told The Hindu. An FIR under the Act was filed against 15 persons, including village headAnwar Alam and ZP members. No one has been arrested yet. Tension prevailed in the village for sometime on Tuesday. (The Hindu 5/2/13)Three Dalit men murdered in apparent case of honour killing (2)Malegaon (Nashik): The first day of this year took Maharashtra down to a new low. Adding to the growinglist of atrocities against Dalits, three young men were killed, allegedly by a mob of upper caste men tokeep their family’s honour intact. One of those killed was in love with the daughter of an upper castefarmer, who is among those accused. The matter was allegedly suppressed by the authorities for almosta month and the murders came to light only after a hard-fought battle by the brother of one of the victims.A month after the arrest of all five accused and visits to the victims’ families by ministers and the memberof the State Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission C.L. Thul, the police are yet to file acharge sheet in the case. The accused had been given magisterial custody till February 11. The accusedhad chosen a septic tank on January 1 for their plan. As one of the relatives of the three men from theMehtar (bhangi) community put it, “cleaning septic tank is our bread and butter … We could not have saidno to this work, even in our wildest of dreams.” The Darandales knew this very well. The three worked atthe Trimurti Pavan Pratishthan School and College at Nevasa Phata in Ahmadnagar district. Sachin andhis mother, and Sandip along with his parents, wife and one year old son lived at the staff quarters of thecollege, while Rahul, who didn’t have parents, lived in a small room in the college hostel. All the familieshad the job of keeping college premises clean and Sandip was the head of cleaning operations. PopatDarandale’s daughter Radha (name changed) was studying in the same college. According to KalabaiGharu, Sachin's mother, Radha and Sachin had fallen in love with each other. “He told me once about herwhen he first received threat from her family. He was scared. They both wanted to marry, but could not,”she told The Hindu. Sandip's brother Pankaj Thanvar, an Indian Army jawan posted in Jammu andKashmir, is yet to come out of shock. “Their phone was [switched] on till 3.45 p.m. on January 1 whenthey had gone for work at Darandales. Then, we heard the news of his death from police,” he said,playing with Sandip's one year old son. It was Pankaj who in spite of negligence from the authorities keptthe battle for justice alive for over a month. It came to light that Ashok Navgire, a common friend, took allthree victims to the house of the Darandales in the Sonai village. He reported to the police on the sameevening about the death of Sandip, claiming he fell down in the septic tank. “They wanted to create ascene where Sandip was killed by [the] other two and both ran away,” said Pankaj. The police howeverfound the death of the 6-feet-tall Sandip suspicious. They also found bruises on his face. After intensivesearch, Rahul’s and Sachin’s dead bodies were found the next day in the adjacent dry well. However,they could not identify Sachin at first, since the body did not have head, legs and hands. “What was thefault of my son? Loving a girl is not a fault. They killed him with such brutality, I wish they die in hell,” saidSachin's mother. His missing body parts were later recovered from a bore well. The old woman said herlife won’t be the same again . “Old women don't like to see such scenes, scenes like their son beingkilled,” she said. The terrified families have left Ahmadnagar in search of a safer place. Pankaj hasbrought his entire family to Malegaon at his aunt’s house, while Sachin’s mother has shifted to herdaughter’s house in Erandol in the neighbouring Beed district. Deputy Superintendent of Police AmbadasGangurde told The Hindu that police have arrested five people till now. They are searching for others asthey believe the five could not have killed three well-built men. “Popat, Prakash and Ramesh (allDarandale) are brothers. Sandip Kute is their nephew, while Ashok is a friend and an accomplice. Wesuspect that there are more people involved in the crime as killing these three young men was not easy