It took five children and two deaths to make the parents of the students at the Adivasi Ashramshala in Partur return to school. Many of them came after years and took away their kids; some are yet to come. The incident has thrown up a bigger question: what happens to these children, mostly belonging to the Pardhi tribe and whose parents are fighting a losing battle to shed the tag of “criminals”?Tired of not having seen their parents, the three students accused of murder at the Adivasi Ashramshala in Partur town of Jalna district in western Maharashtra had planned to go home. With them were two others — Ashok Sonaji Kale (9) and his brother Mangal Sonaji Kale (5) — who too wanted to go home. However, on Tuesday, when the five escaped from the school-cum-hostel, the three elder ones decided to kill the other two to ensure a longer holiday for themselves.Police said the kids left the school at around 9 pm last Tuesday. The three elder ones strangled the two brothers in a bush near the school, dragged their bodies close to the school toilet and went back to sleep. All this to ensure that the school remained close for a while.Dhurabai Sonaji Kale, mother of the deceased kids, is inconsolable. Her nine-year-old daughter Indira, studying in the same school, is now back home. “Now what is the use of an investigation? We have lost our kids. We wanted them to shed the tag of a criminal that follows the Pardhis everywhere. All our dreams are shattered,” said Baburao Kale, grandfather of the two children who were killed.No one from the family of the accused has turned up at the school and a case has been registered against the three boys under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of the IPC.“The death of the two kids was registered as death by accident. When I visited the school to ask a few questions to the students, I found the body language of the three accused suspicious. I caught hold of Mangal who confessed,” said Prahladsingh Shikar, the Partur Inspector.Mangal, Namdev and Vallabh come from Hingoli and Nanded districts. While Mangal and Namdev are studying in Class VIII, Vallabh is a student of Class V. The three are now at a remand home in Jalna. “When I asked them why they did such a thing, they said they desperately wanted to go home,” said Manik Shinde, superintendent of the remand home.While most parents came and took away there children after the incident, about 40 students are still left at the school. “I want to go back home but no one has come to take me,” says Archana Pawar, a student of Class VIII who hails from Parbhani district. Archana says she doesn’t remember when her parents last came to meet her. There are many like her who have not seen their parents since they were admitted to the school. “After the shocking incident many parents who never came to school took away their children,” said R M Banjara a teacher at the ashramshala.Now there are other concerns. The Pardhi community is one of the 150 denotified tribes that were branded criminal under British law after they rebelled against the Raj. Some students also come from the Bhilla and Mahadev Koli tribes. “Pardhis move around in the state and take up odd jobs wherever they are stationed. The community, still fighting its criminal tag hardly finds regular employment,” said Shyamrao Saru Kale, former sarpanch of nearby Padali village.Facilities are few and sparse. This particular school has a 21-member staff, including a lady teacher who leaves the school every evening. “I am scared to stay at night. All students sleep on the floor in one room. The toilet is at a distance and there is no lady teacher,” said a girl.Seven-year-old Santosh Pawar from Selu in Parbhani district does not want to return to the school. “I want to live with my mother,” he said. His mother has other worries. “There is no proper schooling facility here which I can afford. I move here and there in search of work, so I had to sent him to the ashramshala. Now, he will have to go without education as I don't want to send him back there,” she said.
