This is first of the two part series report about the brutal killing of a dalit family in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district and the subsequent agitation it has sparked because police is yet to arrest anybody for the ghastly crime
By Sudhir Pedgaonkar for TwoCircles.net,
Jawkheda, Pathardi (Dist Ahmednagar): When entire Maharashtra was celebrating Diwali – it is five days of festivities – Jawkheda (Khalsa), a village of about 2500 population, was mourning.
Three members of a dalit family were brutally killed, their bodies cut into pieces and dumped at a house and a nearby well.
Jagannath Jadhav, father of the deceased Sanjay Jadhav
This is a village 15 kms off the Teesgaon t-point on Pathardi-Ahmednagar road. For a village with no history of dalit abuse or attacks on the lower caste residents, the incident has rattled the peace at the agrarian community.
Politically, the village is low profile, with no background of Dalit movement during last few decades though the district is very often in the controversy over atrocity cases. There is no talk of atrocity on a dalit family also because the police investigation has pointed towards a family feud over illicit relation – there is a caste equation here too – as a possible cause. It is more than a week after the tragic incident but police are still clueless about the perpetrators of the crime.
Sanjay Jagannath Jadhav (42), his wife Jayshri (38) and son Sunil (20) were brutally chopped off to death at their house at Jadhavbasti, a locality of backward class and Muslim households, about 5 kms away from the main village. Sanjay was a mason, Jayshri, a housewife, while Sunil pursed a degree in Dairy Science at Mumbai and had come home for Diwali just three days ago.
Sanjay’s father Jagannath Jadhav (80) said, “The attack probably occurred between 2 and 3 in the night (in the wee hours of October 21). The culprits must be well aware of the area.”
This is a cluster of small localities scattered in about 2 kms radius around the old part situated in the heart of the village. It has localities with mixed population of Brahmins, Marathas, Buddhists, Dalits, Baniyas, Muslims and OBCs. When the TCN correspondent visited the village, there were no signs of Diwali celebration, there was not a single Diwali lantern hung on any house.
Local grocer Shaikh Raj Mohammad said, “The incident has left a dark shadow in our village. There is an old tradition of our village that people from different communities join other communities in their respective festivals. Hoping good sales, I had replenished grocery items ahead of Diwali, but all is lying unsold as no one has come to buy a single item since Tuesday.”
Ravindra Jadhav, brother of deceased Sanjay Jadhav
Brutality beyond imagination
Ravindra Jadhav (38), Sanjay’s younger brother, a driver, said Sanjay, Jayshri and Sunil had shifted to their small two-room kuchcha house at the farmland just five days before the incident. Sanjay and Jayshri slept in the courtyard while Sunil slept inside, he said.
Jagannath and Ravindra tried to connect the dots as they sought answers to their own questions. “The attackers might have been 10-12 in number, they first hacked Sanjay to death, noise woke Jayshri up. As she screamed, she was hit on her forehead with an axe. In the melee, Sunil woke up and came out of the house. Shocked, he started running away from the spot, but was assaulted just 10 steps away from his parents’ bodies. Bodies of Sanjay and Sunil were chopped into 5-6 pieces on the spot. Unfortunately, our two family dogs were found dead a day before,” they said.
The culprits then packed all body pieces into a godhadi (stitched from old sarees), covered the front yard with soil, carried the pieces up to a well about 500 metres away and dumped them into the well. Jagannath’s another grandson, Prashant Dilip Jadhav (26), lodged the police complaint.
Mehtab Bi Rajubhai Pathan, a shepherdess, said, “They were amiable and had no rivalry with anybody in the village.”
The Well – The well where chopped body parts of the murdered family were found
Killing over illicit affair? Is there any caste angle?
Ravindra Jadhav alleged that a woman from a neighbouring family of upper caste had an affair with Sunil and called on his mobile phone when he was at Mumbai. Police have seized her photographs, recovered from Sunil’s college sack. She is a Maratha, an upper caste, while Sunil was a dalit. He suspects it must this woman, who gave supari (murder contract) for his family’s murder.
Ravindra said his family members’ bodies – though in pieces – were cremated the next day (October 23). Hundreds of Dalits and Muslims, even from surrounding villages turned up for the funeral, but none from the upper caste. “They cited Laxmi Poojan as the reason,” he said.
Sarpanch (village headman) Charuddat Wagh explained, “There was never any rift in our village, not between people belonging to upper castes and lower caste. We are cooperating with police and hopefully will get our village back to normalcy soon.”
The village had won ‘Tanta-Mukt Gaav’ (Clash-free, peaceful village) award of the state government in 2011-12. The award is given to a village with zero clashes during the year. Even after that year, the village has never witnessed any communal clash. The Dalits here celebrate Ambedkar birth anniversary with zeal and fervour on 14 April every year. Neither are they obstructed nor is the procession disturbed while celebrating birth anniversary. “On the contrary people of upper castes are seen extending their wishes to Dalits,” Wagh claimed.
General Village View – The Jawkheda village was awarded ‘tanta mukta village’ in 2011-12 (village with zero clashes)
Whither police investigation
Deputy SP Sunil Patil is investigating the murder case. The Additional Superintendent of Police of the district, Sunita Salunke Thakare said, “Nearly 40-45 people from the village, including that neighbouring woman, and those from adjacent villages, were grilled at the police station. However, no one was arrested.”
When asked about the motive for the murders, Thakare said police are working on many theories simultaneously. “The dacoity theory was ruled out as the ornaments worn by Jayshri were intact on her person. Police are now investigating the illicit relations angle. Sources and informants have been spread for clues and scoop. The case will be cracked at the earliest,” she assured.
Ever since the incident came to light on October 21, the village has seen activists from dalit organizations, media persons, policemen and even NGO representatives make a bee line. Popatrao Jadhav, a woodcutter, said, “Our village was known for peace and co-existence of people from all communities. Politicians and media never visited our village. What’s this circus all about?”
Suraj Jadhav, a class 9th student, said he knew his ‘Sunil Bhaiyya’ and his parents were murdered but could not understand “why were there so many VIPs, cars, police and journalists in his small village?”
The incident has indeed left the common villagers shocked. Latiba Bi Raj Mohammad, a domestic aid, told how difficult it was for her to forget the smiling faces of Sanjay – “He always greeted me with ‘Salam Bhabhi’” – and Jayshri, who called her Didi.
“They were innocent and I wish God shouldn’t give such a death to anybody.”
(Photos courtesy Sudhir Pedgaonkar)
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