Protest in Baramati over tribal’s "custodial" death

Gaekwad, who heads the Vimukta Bhatke Sangharsha Mahasangh, said he would soon approach the courts with a request to direct the government to take concrete measures for the uplift of the Pardhi community. He alleged that the police were “manipulating” the Bombay Habitual Criminals Act of 1952 to “perpetrate atrocities on Pardhis acrossthe state.”

Meanwhile, giving a new twist to the case, Pinya Kale’s wife Chanda today alleged that her husband was beaten for no fault of his by some policemen in full public view at his Tandulwadi village on Monday evening. “He (Pinya) was standing at a flour mill when two policemen pounced on him and started thrashing him around 5 pm on Monday. He was later taken to the police station in a tempo where he was beaten till 4 am on Tuesday. I am convinced that he died due to the third degree used by the police. Otherwise how can a physically fit person die within such a short span of time,” she said.

Chanda denied the police claim that Pinya was a regular offender. “I have been married to him for the last ten years. . All the cases against him had been fabricated,” she said.

She also alleged that some of Pinya’s rivals were responsible for projecting him a criminal. “They (Pinya’s rivals) provided false information to the police and got him implicated in several cases only because he would not letthem harass. Is it a crime if a Pardhi tries to protect his wife from miscreants,” sobbed the distraught Chanda.