Gathering 'storm' around Gujarat Dalit RTI activist's murder amidst official inertia

Jignesh Mevani paying homage to Amrabhai Boricha in Bhavnagar

By Mahesh Trivedi*
Claiming to be harassed and humiliated by upper-caste men, Gujarat Dalits, forming about seven per cent of the state’s six crore plus population, appear all set to begin a fresh move to gird up their loins to take on the "oppression" they have been facing under the BJP rule.
Some 2,500 Scheduled Caste (SC) men and women from all over the state flocked to Sanodar village in Bhavnagar district on March 14 to offer their condolences to a fearless fellow farmer who was hacked to death by headstrong Darbars on March 2, and vowed to stand up and be counted.
Though a strongly-worded memorandum demanding one-acre land and lifetime pension for 50-year-old Amrabhai Boricha’s family was handed over to the district police chief immediately after the prayer meeting, the demands were repeated at another large gathering of the socially-disadvantaged community at Sanand, 22 km from here, on March 20.
On March 22, Dalits, seething with anger over Boricha’s daylight brutal murder inside his own house by ten forward-caste men with swords, spears and steel rods, assembled at the Bhavnagar district collector’s office to submit another memorandum of demands, including a licence for a revolver for protection of the lone Dalit family in the one-horse hamlet.
Jignesh Mevani, independent legislator, known to be the Dalit face of Gujarat, raised the murder issue in the legislative assembly last week asking why the negligent and irresponsible police sub-inspector, an accused in the case, had not been collared so far but the lawmaker was ordered to be forcibly evicted from the House and suspended by the Speaker.
Come April 14, Ambedkar Jayanti, some 3,000 Dalits who have been harassed by high-caste fellow citizens, plan to take out a Lalakaar Yatra (Challenge March) to indicate that they will no more take caste Hindus’ torture lying down but will take on the tormentors.
“On April 14, we will take out the rally and will try to get the possession of 14 land parcels in Gujarat which have been allotted to landless Dalits but have been wrongfully occupied by upper-caste people,” Mevani told this journalist.
After all, at the root of the savage attack on Boricha, a right-to-information (RTI) activist, was his constant complaints to the police against Darbars’ frequent attempts to usurp his land and house for which the Dalit activist was assaulted as many as 13 times, thrice in the presence of policemen.

Dalit gathering in Bhavnagar in memory of Boricha

“Boricha had been receiving death threats for the past seven years but despite his demand for armed policemen at his home, only two baton-carrying guards were provided to him with the result that the goons carrying sharp-edged weapons gate-crashed into his house and killed him,” revealed Niru Chorasia, Bhavnagar district coordinator of Navsarjan, an Ahmedabad-based NGO working for Dalit rights.
According to Kantilal Parmar, social worker and human rights activist, the failure of the state government to provide protection to Dalits has led to the murders of 688 of them, besides 2,500 other crimes like rape, robbery, violent attacks, etc. ever since the anti-atrocities Act came into force in 1990.
“A 2017 circular of the Vijay Rupani government promising pension, employment and land to the bereaved families of SC has only remained on paper,” said Parmar, adding, targeted Dalits are either done to death or are forced to migrate to “safer” places.
While RTI activist Sanjay Ezhva opined that the Gujarat government has completely failed to provide security to anyone who is a conscious citizen, Dalit Adhikar Manch convener Kirit Rathod said, Boricha’s murder has angered the SC community and the saffron-ruled state is sitting on a tinderbox of Dalit unrest.
Top RTI activist Pankti Jog, convener of the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, said that Boricha had to sacrifice his life because under the RTI Act, the state government was obliged to disclose panchayat funds details he had sought in 2013 but did not do its duty and, consequently, the whistleblower was beaten up by panchayat office-bearers.
There have been reports that, like Boricha, many Gujarat Dalit right activists from Kutch, Botad, Banaskantha and Gir Somnath districts also have been facing death threats, but are yet to be given police protection.
Asserts Mevani: “The fact that Boricha was assaulted as many as 14 times shows that there is absolute blatant disregard for the rule of law in Gujarat as if the Constitution has gone for a six in the Rupani regime which, strangely, calls itself a sensitive administration.”
---
*Senior Ahmedabad-based journalist. An earlier version of this report has been published in clarionindia.net

Comments

Anonymous said…

is this not the same Mewani bhai who joined the BJP bhai - albeit briefly . About time he made up his mind instead of flip flopping all over the place. Needless to say such flip flops have great value attached during elections.

March 23, 2021

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

What's behind Donald Trump's 'narco-state' accusation against Venezuela

By Manolo De Los Santos The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a "narco-state", accusing its top leadership of drug trafficking and slapping hefty bounties on their heads for capture. This campaign, which only momentarily took a backseat, is a strategic fabrication, not a factual assessment. This accusation, particularly amplified under the Trump Administration, is a calculated smokescreen to justify a long-standing agenda: the overthrow of the Venezuelan government and the seizure of its vast oil and mineral resources. A closer examination of the facts reveals a country that has actively fought drug trafficking on its own terms and a US government with a clear and consistent history of destabilizing independent countries in Latin America.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Counterview

Search This Blog