Thirteen persons were detained on Friday in an alleged incident of atrocity and criminal intimidation during the cremation of a Dalit man, said Vadodara Rural Police. In a complaint filed at Vadu police station, Rajnikant Vankar, the son of the deceased, alleged the accused prohibited the family from performing the final rites at the common crematorium of Gametha village of Vadodara district's Padra Taluka and hurled casteist abuses at them. The body of the deceased, the family alleged, could not be cremated for over 12 hours as the villagers did not allow the last rites in the 'upper caste' crematorium despite police presence. The village, which has a population of about 7,000, has close to 20 Dalit families, clustered together in a lane. Speaking to The Indian Express, Vankar, who works as an auto driver, said, "I only had my father in my family as I am unmarried and my mother passed away a few years ago. On Wednesday, my father breathed his last around 7 am, and we realised that the crematorium designated for our community is flooded with water." "We approached Nagin Padhiyar, the village head, who initially agreed and said that we could cremate my father in the village crematorium instead. However, as we were in the middle of preparation, several other villagers gathered and objected to the cremation, stating it would become a practice for the community to do so repeatedly and that it cannot be allowed. The Sarpanch, too, withdrew his initial support to the community and refused to allow the cremation," he added. Even as police support was sought, the decision of the villagers prevailed, and at around 8 pm Wednesday, the body was cremated at another location outside the two crematoriums, the family added. In his complaint, the Sarpanch is also named as an accused. "When we began collecting the cremation woodpile for completing the rituals in a part of the common crematorium of the village, the accused arrived and threw away the wood as they began abusing us with casteist slurs.They told us that we would have to perform the cremation only in the land designated for the community; they threatened to kill us and talked of our community in a disrespectful manner," Vankar further said. On Friday, the Vadodara Deputy Superintendent of Police began a probe into the case as the Mamlatdar and Police Inspector of Vadu police station joined to visit the village and hold a 'peace meeting' with the communities. The police also visited the Dalit settlement in the village. The Vadu police has detained 13 persons mentioned in the FIR. The accused have been identified as Nagin Padhiyar, Ashok Padhiyar, Vijay Parmar, Ghanshyam Padhiyar, Bhadha Padhiyar, Chandrasangh Padhiyar, Magan Padhiyar, Raman Padhiyar, Raisang Padhiyar, Arvind Padhiyar, Mangal Padhiyar, Bhampo Padhiyar, Balwant Padhiyar. The accused have been booked under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), 114 (abettor present when a crime is committed), and under relevant sections of the Atrocity Act. Giving details about the case, Vadodara SP Rohan Anand said, "The incident occurred on Wednesday when the land allotted to the (Dalit) community for cremation was flooded due to rain, and after discussing with some members of the village, they decided to go ahead with the cremation in the common crematorium. It was met with resistance from some members of the village. The police too had reached the spot. In the end, the villagers gathered the wood for the cremation and it was done at a third place as per mutual understanding. The village was calm too; but on Thursday, the family of the deceased approached the police to file a complaint. We have detained the accused mentioned in their complaint and deployed one police party in the village to maintain law and order."
