Skip to main content

Gujarat court rules five year imprisonment for "not allowing" Dalits to use cremation ground in Godhra village

A 2014 Dalit rally against refusal to allow cremation ground
By Our Representative
In a unique victory for Gujarat Dalits, a Godhra court has sentenced Nimesh Gordhanbhai Patel for five years’ imprisonment and Rs 25,000 fine for refusing permission to Dalits to cremate one Nanabhai Kohyabhai Vankar, who died at the age of 75 in on September 19, 2014, in the cremation ground of Mehlol village of Godhra taluka.
Patel managed the cremation ground, which was built from the grant of former BJP MLA, Prabhatsinh Chauhan.
Following the refusal to allow Vankar to be cremated on the common ground, senior activist Rohit Manu of Gujarat’s largest Dalit rights group, Navsarjan Trust, filed an FIR with the Vejalpur police station under the anti-atrocities Act, citing it as a clear case of untouchability.
From existing records, this is for the first time when a Gujarat court has ordered stringent punishment for not allowing Dalits to use a cremation ground.
The Godhra sessions court order has come, ironically, at a time when the Gujarat government has been providing funds for separate cremation grounds for Dalits, who are refused to perform the last rites of their departed near and dear ones on the common cremation ground.
A 2016 Navsarjan Trust survey says, funds have been allocated to as many as 50 villages across Gujarat for this. Interestingly, in Central Gujarat’s rich Kheda district's Moholel village, where the Dalits are just 5% of the population, there are three crematoriums – one for the "general" and two for the "lower castes".
A report quotes Manish Parmar, a resident of Moholel village as saying, “By building different crematoriums for Dalits instead of ensuring that the last rites for their dead are performed in the crematoriums common to all, the government is trying to create a rift."
Justifying the creation of separate crematoriums a senior state official, however, said, "The work was done as per government guidelines. Separate crematoriums are approved if there is a demand from the communities or recommendation from MLAs.” 
Vankar cremated outside the village cremation ground
Manu, who filed the untouchability case against those denying cremation facilities for Dalits in the Godhra village, backed by Maheshbhai Dhulabhai Parmar, Rajesh Solanki, lawyer Narendra Parmar, said, “There is nothing unusual in Gujarat for not allowing Dalits a separate cremation ground. It is part of the prevailing untouchability milieu in the state.”
Ashaben, a government pleader, fought the case in the Godhra sessions court.
“We live in a state where untouchability does not leave us even when we die”, Manu regretted, adding, “The case was filed following protests in Godhra against the refusal to cremate Vankar on the common cremation ground. The Dalits cremated the body outside the age of the cremation ground, which has been built from the local MLA’s grant.”
The 2014 Dalit representation to the district officials following the protest in Godhra said, “The relatives of the deceased had no other option but to cremate Vankar’s body outside the closed gate of the cremation ground.”
The representation further said , “It is disturbing that, even decades after Independence, Dalits are subjected to untouchability even after they are dead. This is a serious violation of our basic human rights, and you are requested to take legal action against those responsible for this.”
It added, “When the family members of the deceased reached the cremation ground with the body, the person who manages it, Nimesh Gordhanbhai Patel, told them that they could not cremate Vankar’s body within its premises. This happened when they approached Patel for the keys of the main gates of the cremation ground, which were closed.”

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”

Savarkar 'opposed' Bhagat Singh's, Netaji's dream of India, supported British war efforts

By Shamsul Islam* In a shocking development, the student wing of the RSS put the busts of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandra Bose with Savarkar's on one pedestal at the University of Delhi late in the night on August 20, 2019. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for a socialist-democratic-secular republic and Netaji raised Azad Hind Fauj (INA) consisting of people of all religions and regions for armed liberation of India.

Undermining law, breastfeeding? Businesses 'using' celebrities to promote baby food

By Rajiv Shah*  A report prepared by the top child welfare NGO, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), has identified as many as 15 offenders allegedly violating the Indian baby food law, the Infant Milk Substitutes Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 1992, and Amendment Act 2003 (IMS Act), stating, compliance with the law “seems to be dwindling by the day.”