Maharashtra raids on Dalit activists: Over-zealous cops seize works by Ambedkar, Phule, anything "rebellious"

Surendra Gadling

The recent police raids on the homes of well-known human rights activists and a senior lawyer in Pune on the pretext of gathering information about their alleged complicity in fomenting the Bhima Koregaon violence on January 1, 2018 and the subsequent bandh is all set to snowball into a major crisis in the state. Things may acquire political colour, as the Maharashtra Chief Minister has qualified the raids as an there was suspicion of "Maoist links".
The controversy would further deepen, as a 19-year-old Dalit woman, a witness in the clashes at Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra, was found dead in a well on April 21.
On January 1, an event to mark 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune district, was marred by incidents of violence, with at least one person getting killed and vehicles torched. The violence had spread to several areas including Mumbai, Aurangabad and Pune.
The Pune police conducted simultaneous searches on April 17, 2018 starting in wee hours of the morning at homes of prominent Dalit rights activists in Maharashtra, including Harshali Potdar of the Republican Panthers, Sagar Gorkhe and Rupali Jadhav of the Kabir Kala Manch activists. The Pune police also conducted search at the residence of senior advocate Surendra Gadling, who is based in Nagpur.
Noting that the combing operations are meant to target innocent members of the Dalit community, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), a Mumbai-based human rights organization led by prominent social activist Teesta Setalvad, has said that Gadling's house was raided "though his name doesn’t even appear in any FIRs that list accused the Bhima Koregaon programme."

Harshali Potdar with her team

The police raid was carried out by eight officers supported by over 100 security personnel. "Gadling's house was cordoned off from all sides and a dramatic scene was created with all the vehicles parked in the vicinity so as to create a scary picture in the minds of onlookers and neighbours. Gadling argued with the police about unnecessary deployment of forces, after which some of them left the spot", notes CJP.
Says CJP, during the ‘search operations’, "in the name of seizing incriminating material, police seized all possible compact discs, including CDs of wedding and birthday celebrations, software program CDs, Project Law (which has compilation of judgment collected by him over period of 25 years), Bollywood movie CDs, videos of Khairlanji agitation, fake encounter fact-finding videos, etc."
CJP adds, "They took away hard discs of all the computers in the family. Gadling shares his house with his elder brother and hard discs pertaining to his niece’s computer used for educational purposes were also taken away. Computers that were in use by his juniors to do research and drafting work were also seized. Though Gadling requested not to seize educational material on the computer hard-disc, all such requests were refused by the authorities."

Kabir Kala Manch activists

Giving reasons for targetting Gadling, CJP says, he has been "instrumental in fighting cases of various activists and people from marginalized sections, especially Dalits, tribals, workers from various backgrounds. Being a Dalit himself, Gadling played a crucial role in the pursuit of justice in the aftermath of Khairlanji massacres, Ramabai Nagar agitations, cases pertaining to fake encounters etc."
Pointing out that Gadling was also appointed as special public prosecutor by the state government in some gender violence cases, CJP says, "He played a major role in cases related to backward communities, in defense of reservation, and of independence of judiciary. He was instrumental in organizing many mass awareness public meetings in the court and outside alike. He has conducted many fact findings in association with senior retired High Court and Supreme Court judges."
Continues CJP, "Gadling played a significant role in defending those incarcerated under draconian laws of TADA, POTA and UA(P)A, including that of Sudhir Dhavale, Prof GN Saibaba, even as defending rights of tribals arrested by police under fabricated FIRs."

Sudhir Dhavale

CJP quotes Harshali Potdar as saying that, during the the police raid on morning of April 17 on his office, “not only materials of the Bhima Koregaon programme, but also booklets in Marathi and Hindi on Rohit Vemula’s institutional murder entitled ‘Who killed Rohit Vemula’ brought out by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice-Mumbai were seized.”
Potdar, says CJP, has played "a crucial role in the anti-caste movement in Maharashtra, leading from the front on various occasions. She is convener of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice, Maharashtra. JACs for social justice emerged in various parts of the country to confront the issues of caste based discrimination in university campuses after Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder in January 2016."
Rupali Jadhav is quoted as saying that the police raids on her house, along with that of Sagar Gorkhe, led to the seizure of the "booklets and pamphlets that they possessed which had been brought out by the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerana Abhiyan, a coalition of 260 mass organisations that had conducted the programme. The absurdity of the search and seizure can be seen in the fact that they have even seized all the works of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule, among others, where they found such words like ‘vidroh’ (rebellion)."

Comments

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Just 5% Gujarat Dalit households 'recognise' social reformers who inspired Ambedkar

An interesting survey conducted across 22 districts and 32 villages in Gujarat sheds light on the representation of key social reformers in Dalit households. It suggests that while Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's photo was displayed in a majority of homes, images of Lord Buddha and the 19th-century reformist couple, Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule, were not as commonly represented.

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.

Area set aside in Ahmedabad for PM's affordable housing scheme 'has gone to big builders'

Following my article on affordable housing in Counterview, which quoted a top real estate consultant, I was informed that affordable housing—a scheme introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—has deviated from its original intent. A former senior bureaucrat, whom I used to meet during my Sachivalaya days, told me that an entire area in Ahmedabad, designated for the scheme, has been used to construct costly houses instead.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Search This Blog