Gujarat's commercial capital "tops" the list of murder, rape of Dalits: Compilation based on RTI plea to DGP

By A Representative
A fresh compilation, based on detailed right to information (RTI) replies on victims of caste violence in Gujarat, has revealed that Ahmedabad’s Dalits top the list of victims of caste violence compared to any other district. The data, which contain individual cases of those who have suffered caste violence, suggest that 38 Dalits were murdered in Ahmedabad district out of a total of 295 in Gujarat since 1991.
This is followed by Rajkot 32 murders, Surendranagar 26 murders, Junagardh 22 murders, Surat 21 murders, and so on.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s commercial capital, also tops the list of rapes cases, 90, out of 519 across Gujarat, the information, sought by a senior Dalit rights activist, Kantilal Parmar of Navsarjan Trust, suggests. Rajkot follows Gujarat with 59 rape cases, Anand 38, Surendranagar 32 rape cases,

Mehsana 25 rape cases, Junagarh 23 rape cases, and Patan 20 rape cases.

“Our aim of getting the information was to get compensation in each case. We wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), with copies to state authorities, seeking compensation in each of the cases. Our efforts are beginning to bear fruit”, Parmar told me.

“A government order dated August 4, 2017 has been issued to provide cash compensation of Rs 4.12 lakh to the family of Rajeshbhai Becharbhai Parmar, who lived in Chandodia area, one of the 38 persons murdered in Ahmedabad”, he said, adding, “We hope more will follow.”

On August 11, 2017, another order by Gujarat’s social justice and empowerment department, asked director, scheduled caste welfare, to immediately work out rehabilitation of Dalits in Gujarat’s 295 villages, which are known to have experienced caste violence.

As far as social boycott cases are concerned, the data show, Bhavnagar district tops the list with 15 incidents, followed by nine each in Botad and Rajkot districts, seven in Vadodara district, five each in Banaskantha and Surendranagar districts, and three in Ahmedabad district.
Surprisingly, despite fewer number of social boycotts in Ahmedabad, the district experienced the highest number of forced migration cases – eight.
While an equal number of forced migration instances happened in Rajkot district, too, Banaskathan followed with seven cases, Patan five cases, Amreli and Anand districts three cases each, and so on. In all, Gujarat experienced 75 cases of social boycott and 49 cases of forced migration by Dalit groups because of caste violence, the data reveal.

“We have told in our plea to the NHRC that monetary compensation, though necessary, is not enough for rehabilitating Dalits who have suffered caste violence”, Parmar said, adding, “We have simultaneously demanded allocation of agricultural land to each victim, government job to an adult in the family, housing facility, and so on.”

Parmar, however, regretted, the state apparatus, especially the police establishment, has refused to part with all the information on caste violence, “one reason why the total number of individuals cases we have been given is far fewer than the National Crime Record Bureau figures.”
Parmar further said, “There was considerable delay in providing RTI information. While the application was filed about 10 months ago, the office of the Director-General of Police sent applications to respective district police heads and city police commissioners.”

He added, “While a few of the district police offices provided information, others, like Porbandar and Bhavnagar, replied to us that it was an impossible task, asking us to approach individual police stations. This led us to gather information from local sources.”

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Search This Blog