By Shiva Thorat, TwoCircles.net
Ahmednagar: On July 17, residents of Kopardi village, Karjat Tehsil, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, woke up to a devastating news of a minor girl who had been brutally gangaraped. By the end of the day, the news had spread all across Maharashtra. According to Marathi newspaper Loksatta, Maharashtra Chief Minister wasted no time in announcing that the perpetrators of such a heinous crime will not be spared, and that the state would demand death penalty for all the accused. So far, so good, one would say. But what followed in the coming days was nothing short of politics of the lowest level.
The news was followed by protests and marches across the state, and soon, politicians were flocking to the village to meet the family of the girl. However, in what can only be termed as casteist measures, Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar were denied entry into the village and thereby stopped from meeting the kin of the girl. They were told by the local media, in no uncertain terms, that the family did not wish to meet the leaders. Soon, it emerged that the tensions in the region had grown to such an extent that meeting the family was not advisable.
However, the other reason why these two leaders were not allowed to meet the family has been attributed to the handiwork of local Maratha leaders, who believe that since the accused were Dalits and the girl was a Maratha, it was best for Dalit leaders to stay away from the village.
“Maratha caste leaders of the village are leading the decision to not give entry to any Dalit leaders in Kopardi,” cabinet Minister Athawale told one of the local newspapers. “It is my duty to visit the victim’s family, but I skipped the visit after Chief Minister Fadnavis’ suggestion to avoid any kind of caste tension. I appeal to all the communities to maintain peace. All the accused will be punished, even if they belong to the Dalit community.” he added.
Athawale had already gone to Mumbai airport to board a flight for Ahmadnagar via Pune when he got the call from CM, saying that the victim family does not want to meet anyone and that they have been shifted to another place.
It is important to point out that in the past few years, Ahmednagar has witnessed a number of atrocities committed on Dalits. Pathardi is the village of Ahmednagar district where three people were murdered in October, 2014 in a case of ‘honour killing’. In January 2013 the mutilated bodies three Dalits who worked as manual scavenger were found in another village, Sonai, in the same district.
Similarly, Prakash Ambedkar was denied permission by the police and administration. The same fate awaited Prof. Jogendra Kawade, Chief of Peoples Republican Party was also denied permission saying that any visit by Dalit leaders would only increase tensions in the area. In fact, in the case of Kawade and Ambedkar, police produced a notice under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) act of 149 to restrain them from visiting the place.
BJP leader blames Sairat movie, CM and MNS chief allowed to meet family
The gag on leaders meeting the family, however, seem to be limited only to Dalit leaders.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) chairperson Raj Thackeray were able to meet the victim’s family.
After the meeting, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray told media persons that to prevent rape cases in India, rapists’ hand-feet should be cut. However, a relative of the victim believed this case should prompt a review of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. Speaking to Loksatta, Lalasaheb Sudrik said “In rural areas, there are a lot of false cases of atrocities on Dalits and this has lead to a growing sense of fear among the non-dalit communities lives. The Atrocity Act should be reconsidered”.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis promised after meeting victim’s family that the state government would provide security and will provide self-defense training to all school-going girls.
However, the most controversial statement came from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Manisha Chaudhari. She said in an interview to a local newspaper that, “because of cinema like Sairat, youth are diverted to commit offences against women. A movie like Sairat should be banned and should not entertain also”. She posed a challenge to the Dalit director of Sairat, Nagraj Manjule.
In reply, Manjule said in an interview with Maharashtra News that, “Now, Sairat is not just my movie. If someone wants to ban it, please go ahead; if someone wants to see it, please see it. If the banning of cinema is helps improve society from this kind of offences, society would have been civilised by now”.
What is more worrying is that in retaliation to the Kopardi case, Dalits leaders and artists are being attacked by people across various platforms; denied entry and not given permission.