Bombay HC allows govt to enter ‘disputed land’ at Jaystambh

In an order passed on Wednesday, Justice Amit Borkar said the government is permitted to enter upon the ‘suit land’ from December 22 to January 5, 2024.

“The access to the general public is also granted from the midnight of 31 December, 2023, till the midnight of 5 January 2024,” said the order. A few lakh people, mainly followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, are expected to  visit the Jaystambh to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima.

The police and district administration have started making security arrangements and other preparations for the January 1 gathering at the ‘Jaystambh’, which is one of the sensitive locations in Pune after violence broke out here on the first day of the year 2018, killing one person and leaving several others injured, when lakhs of Ambedkarites had gathered to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima.

As per historical records, Jaystambh was erected by the British government in 1821 in the memory of its soldiers who fought against the Peshwas at Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 1818. Later, the Britishers had appointed their soldier Kandojibin Gajoji Jamadar (Malvadkar), who was wounded in the Battle of Koregaon Bhima, as the in-charge of the Jaystambh on December 13, 1824.

Successors of Jamadar say that as per the ‘sanad’ given to Kandojibin Gajoji Jamadar by the British government, possession of about 260 acres of land along with the ‘Jaystambh’ was given to their family.

According to the Jamadar family which belongs to the Maratha community, both British and Peshwa forces comprised soldiers of different castes. And thus, they say the Battle of Koregaon Bhima cannot be linked to any particular caste or religion, and that it was not a war against casteism.

But, a section of Dalits, mainly Ambedkarites, believe the British Army comprising 500 soldiers from the Mahar community defeated a 28,000–strong force of upper caste Peshwas, in the battle.  Lakhs of Ambedkarites visit the Jaystambh on January 1, calling it ‘Shaurya Din (Victory Day)’ to pay tribute to soldiers who, they believe, fought a war for freedom against the alleged casteism of Peshwas.

In 2015, the “Bhima Koregaon Vijay Stambh Saurakshan and Savardhan Samiti”, a private outfit, wrote a letter to Rajkumar Badole, the then state minister of Social Justice, alleging that the Jamadar family’s name was illegally included on a 7/12 extract of “Jaystambh” land. The samiti demanded that the Jamadar family’s name be removed from the Jaystambh land, alleged encroachments done by them be cleared and action be taken to prevent further encroachments as a huge number of people, who visit the Jaystambh every year on January 1, face problems due to lack of space at the spot. Following the letter, the government initiated action against Jamadar. Then Honorary Captain Balasaheb Jamadar, a successor of Kandojibin Gajoji Jamadar, rejected the allegations and moved a civil court in Pune, seeking an order of permanent injunction to restrain the state government from dispossessing them from the Jaystambh land.

In December 2017, the court passed an order against Jamadar, who then moved the Bombay High Court. The matter is still pending before the high court and the status quo in the case continues.