Labourer tonsured for taking day off

Vilas followed the bus and began to beat him up assoon as he alighted. 8220;When you want money, you come to us and now you don8217;t want to work,8221; Vilas had told Pawar, referring to the Rs 350 the youth had borrowed for his wedding last year His wife Chhaya has since died in an accident. Pawar was then taken on a motorcycle back to Kharbaav and kicked and punched in front of the jeering villagers.

Then, the local barber was told to tonsure him. 8220;Chhote maalak told me my head would remind all labourers that they must stay in line,8221; Pawar told Express Newsline. But the Patils had not had enough. Stripped to his loin-cloth, Pawar was paraded through the village which comprises about 150 pucca houses, thrashed some more and then locked in the Patils8217; residence for five hours before he was freed by the Bhiwandi police.

At around the same time, a courier took the news to Pawar8217;s parents, Rakhmabai 45 and Ramu 55. Both ran to Khaarbaav and pleaded with the Patils to release their son. 8220;We were slapped, pushed around and told to leave,8221; says Rakhmabai,adding: 8220;Finally, I begged a rickshaw-wallah to take me to the Bhiwandi police station.8221;

Charged under Section 3 10 of the Atrocities Act and Sections 363 kidnapping, 504 intimidation, 323 causing grievous hurt, 506 threatening, 355 wrongful confinement and 34 common intent to harm of the Indian Penal Code, Gopal and Vilas Patil are still absconding. Vikram Thakur, the barber, is in judicial custody.

Pawar8217;s neighbours are angry with Suresh for lodging a case against the Patils. Ganpat Waghe, who resides in the adjacent mud-thatched hut, blames the Pawars for not 8220;exercising restraint8221;. Says Ganpat8217;s wife Laali: 8220;Once they the land owners give us money they become our masters. Even if maalak had roughed up Suresh a bit, going to the police was wrong.8221;

Generations of subservience has seeped too far into the Katkari psyche; its wages only for them to reap. Suresh Pawar8217;s folly, they say, could cost the entire pada their livelihood for the season, should the Patils8217; sodecree.

8220;Even if we know we are being exploited, we have no choice,8221; remarks Rakhmabai, referring to the Patils8217; munificience.

Each Katkari who tills the fields is paid Rs 40 for a day8217;s back-breaking labour, which starts at 8 am and does not end till sundown. Either that, or they are given three free meals a day. On the odd, good day, that is.Says Pawar8217;s neighbour Waghe: 8220;Three years after I borrowed Rs 500 to treat my daughter who was sick with dehydration, I am still repaying it with the callouses on my hands.8221; Like his fellow Katkaris, Waghe will have to leave his family in Bangalpada and find menial work elsewhere if the Patils8217; ire snowballs into a botcott.

Banglapada Sarpanch Dwarkabai Labde Shiv Sena laughs off the tonsuring incident. 8220;City-folk are making an issue out of it but it is really nothing. When tempers cool, everything will be fine. These things keep happening all the time,8221; Labde says.

Shrikant Singh, additional commissioner, Tribal Welfare Commissionerate, Thane, says hehas heard of the 8220;barbaric act8221;.

8220;However, anything that falls under the Atrocities Act is basically under the purview of the local district magistrate.8221;

Sitting MLA from Bhiwandi, Mohammed Ali Khan Samajwadi Party, was not aware of the incident. Neither had he heard of Bangalpada.

8220;These are remote areas and you must appreciate that keeping track of all of them is not possible,8221; he told Express Newsline. Of the total tribal population in Thane, about 40 per cent work as farm labourers, in bondage. But like Banglapada, it is 8220;not possible to keep track8221; of these pockets of habitation.