Birbhum killings, Dalit atrocities in Rajasthan, and Ukraine

Next, Deep Mukherjee talks about the rise  of Dalit atrocities in Rajasthan.

And finally, we bring you the latest on Ukraine.

TRANSCRIPT

Snigdha Sharma: Hi, I’m Snigdha Sharma and you’re listening to 3 Things, The Indian Express news show. In this episode we talk about the violence in West Bengal’s Birbhum. We also discuss atrocities against Dalits in Rajasthan. And we go over the latest updates on Ukraine. Beginning with West Bengal. At least eight houses in Birbhum district were attacked and set on fire, resulting in eight deaths, including that of women and children. It all started on Monday evening, when Bhadu Sheikh, a deputy Pradhan associated with the Trinamool Congress was murdered. While the police denied any political angle and said that it was a case of rivalry between two groups, the incident was picked up by the Union Home Ministry, which sought a report from the state government. The killings have brought back the spotlight on the perennial issue of law and order in West Bengal that the opposition has constantly drawn attention to. For Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee, who only last year defeated the BJP in West Bengal assembly elections, these killings are yet another urgent call to address the growing political culture of violence and impunity. Indian Express reporter Atri Mitra, who’s currently in Birbhum joined us to tell us more about the incident. So Atri, can you begin by telling us who was Bhadu Sheikh? And how did he end up modelled?

Atri Mitra: Basically, Bhadu Sheikh become the most influential man in the Rampurhat Subdivision Birbhum district West Bengal. He’s a driver in a chicken shop, but gradually he rise from that place. And he joined TMC in 2014-15 and in 2018, he became TMC Panchayat member in the Barshal Gram Panchayat, which village Bogtui is under the Barshal Gram Panchayat. After he elected as Panchayat member, he also became deputy president of the Barshal Gram Panchayat. And after that he became so much influential, he also have very good relation with police and administration, and he’s also influential in the ruling party leaders and he used to became most influential extortionist in this Rampurhat area. Rampurhat strategically is very interesting area of the Birbhum, basically Birbhum is a very interesting place of the West Bengal from these district, sand, stone chips, and coal and cow: the illegal transportation of those things happened from Birbhum. So he used to take extortion money from these illegal persons, those who transport these things from here to there. And in the extortion world, in the criminal world always privately grows from a driver, he became a course of money now. So he also grew some rivalry in his own group. And allegedly, some of his close aids killed him on Monday evening.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So Atri, this incident led to the arson that left eight innocent people dead, including women and children, right? How did that chain of events occur after Bhabu Sheikh’s death?

Atri Mitra: After a while, when he killed in his own village, the close supporters of him basically his bodyguards specially, when they took his body to the Rampurhat government hospital and doctor said he brought to death so after that his close aid who are the suspected murderer of the Bhabu Sheikh are also the residents of that village. And these supporters came back in the village and they basically targeted 4-5 people’s house and they gheraod those house and allegedly they beaten those family member although the men of that houses already fled away from the house. Their wife and other relatives, old father, mother were there and some children also there. So allegedly they beaten up those people and set on fire those houses. And in that fire seven people basically charred to death and one people beaten to death who is Fatikh Sheikh’s wife Meena bibi.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay, now Atri a lot of questions have been raised about the lax approach of the police. Even the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself brought it up. So tell us more about the police’s response.

Atri Mitra: You know, earlier I said that he has very good relation with the local administration and local police officials and that you know, if you came at the Bogtui village, the entry point of the Bogtui village is from the NH – National Highway 34 you can see that just in front of Bogtui village is GP of Rampurhat house was there and everybody telling that after the murder of Bhadu Sheikh police knew that there may be retaliation and four to five police vans were there but they failed to stop arson. They failed to stop that retaliation. And another thing is that people are giving allegations that every expression Babu shake and his associates was doing from 3-4 years. It is very much known to the police officials or district officials as well as a subdivisional police officials of Rampurhat. So they didn’t take a single step to stop this extortion and other criminal activities. And in this area, in last two years, four murders happened, including elder brother of Bhadu Sheikh, Babar Sheikh was murdered in the fifth January 2021. And opposition is alleging that after these cases, police did not take any steps did not arrested any people. Those who are arrested also got bailed from the court.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So Atri on Thursday, the Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee visited the village herself. Can you tell us more about what she said and how she responded to the killings?

Atri Mitra: Chief Minister came at about 1pm in Bogtui village she came from Kolkata by helicopter. She came over here 1pm and meet the family whose houses were burned after the murder of the Bhadu Sheikh so they told what happened exactly. And they demanded chief minister that their all belongings and house ransacked and burnt. They lost their relatives. Somebody lost his son, some lost his parents, so Chief Minister heard all these things and then chief minister called DGP Manoj Malviya, and she said that police is not worked properly and the block president in Rampurhat-1 Anarul sake block president of TMC, his role was not out of suspicion. So where she first ordered to arrest Anarul Hossein and in the evening from Tarapit, Anarul Hossein was arrested by the police and the minister also ordered DGP that these incidents should not be happened in future so police should be more cautious and fully should drive to recover the illegal arms and ammunitions if there are in across the state. The police should do a special drive to recover those illegal arms and ammunitions. Chief Minister also said that those who are lost their family members each family will be given five lakh rupees and those who are severely injured will get one lakh rupees and those who are nominally injuries, they will get 50,000 financial help from the government and minister also ordered that initially district administration should give two lakh rupees to each family those who are houses set on fire and she also assured that from ten family she will give from her own quota, one person from each family job and first year they have to work as a temporary worker and then they will be absorbed as permanent employee of the state government. One more thing Chief Minister criticised police force that police was not played a proper role in this incident and if police wanted then they can stop retaliation in the Bogtui village. So she also ordered to suspend SDPO of the rampurhat and IC of the Rampurhat PS.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay, and can you tell us what other arrests have been made apart from Anarul Hossein? Who all are the people accused?

Atri Mitra: Basically apart from Anarul, 20 people already arrested for the retaliation part of the incident. Those who are torched the houses and killed the people set on fire houses, 20 people accused including 2-3 persons who are used to guard Bhadu Sheikh and close associates of Bhadu Sheikh and in the Bhadu Sheikh murder case only one person arrested by the police and Mamata Banerjee already formed a special investigation team under the leadership of Gyanwant Singh, the ADG of West Bengal police, and they are supposed to submit the report at the High Court and chief minister also.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So Atri finally, if you could tell us I mean, we know that in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress’s electoral dominance has often been accompanied by violence and you know a law and order problem right, quite similar to the political culture of the left rule, so can you tell us a little more about this pattern.

Atri Mitra: After the landslide victory of 2021 Assembly election, the ruling party’s retaliation on the opposition was very much and at least around 20 people killed within this period, and many people were forced to came out of their house came out of their village came out of their areas. And this last one week, the leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari repeatedly alleged that last one week 26 murder happened in West Bengal. So some of the political experts extortion and the corruption increased in the ruling a TMC that makes these kind of incidents.

Snigdha Sharma: Now coming to Rajasthan, over the past few years atrocities against the Dalit community have been on the rise in Rajasthan, while Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of crimes against Dalits in 2019, it was Rajasthan, which had the country’s highest rate of crimes against Dalits. It was at 55.6%. In 2018, the crime rate against Dalits was 37.7%. And in 2017, it was 34.7%. And recent events have only highlighted the dire need for more effective measures to deal with this issue. A 32 year old Dalit man and Rajasthan’s Alwar was recently forced to rub his nose on a temple platform for the remarks that he had made in a reply to comments on one of his Facebook posts about the film Kashmir Files. So we spoke to Indian Express’ Deep Mukherjee:about the incident and the rise in such cases in the state. So Deep, can you start by telling us details of the incident in Alwar?

Deep Mukherjee: Yeah, sure. So the sequence of events it started on March 18, on the holi day when Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, who is a resident of Alwar, he had made a post on Facebook after watching the trailer of Kashmir Files, the movie, and he had questioned that since there is talk of Kashmir files are being made tax free, that why films such as Jai Bhim which are focused on Dalit issues are not made tax free. And he also said that we’re talking about atrocities on Kashmiri pundits, which is fine, but why are we not talking about crimes against Dalits and other marginalised communities. So this led to a few people commenting with Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hindu beneath that post, and that prompted a reaction from Meghwal, which Meghwal claims that he made a typo and it resulted in a comment which the other party they found it offensive against Hindu gods, and that resulted into him getting threats and also being ostracised in his village where several people mounted pressure and Meghwal said that he also briefly left the village because he was scared, so he works with a private bank. And ever since that incident happened on March 18, he had issued a couple of apologies also on Facebook, saying that he didn’t want to hurt any gods or he’s not against any religion, and he apologised for it. But that didn’t let the threats to be stopped. So what happened is that Meghwal told me that villagers along with a former sarpanch, they constantly pressured him to apologise at a local temple in the village. So he was scared about his safety and he didn’t know whether he would be roughed up or not. Or he would be heckled so he initially was reluctant to go there. But on Tuesday, he went there thinking just to end the issue, and after getting assurance that he wouldn’t be beaten up or assaulted, but there Meghwal says that he was forced to rub his nose on the temple platform while apologising, and people there also abused him with casteist slurs. So that resulted him into filing this FIR which we are talking there FIR has been filed under various sections of IPC, including voluntarily causing hurt and also sections of the SCST prevention of atrocities act. So after the FIR was filed, there are total 11 accused in the case the police have arrested seven people.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So next, if you can tell us who all are the accused and how has the police responded, what are they saying?

Deep Mukherjee: So initially, when the FIR was filed 11 People were named as accused by Rajesh kumar Meghwal who is a Dalit and that is why they FIR also contains sections of the SCST prevention of atrocities act. And so the police said that the seven accused have been arrested who are Ajay Kumar Sharma, Sanjay Kumar, Hemant Sharma, Parvindra Kumar, Ramotar, Nitin Jangid and Dayaram. And so these are all people who are residents of the same village as Meghwal, which is Gokalpur in Alwar. And they were the ones who pressurised him to apologise by rubbing his nose against the platform of the temple. So they have been arrested. So the police say that they are questioning other people and any one else who have been involved in the act will also be arrested. What happened was that a video of the incident has gone viral on social media, which also further led to the promptness in the police action because the issue resulted in outrage among several people who condemned the incident. And Meghwal himself said that he is not feeling safe anymore in the village. He’s scared for his safety, and that is why the police had to arrest them.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay, so Deep, you spoke to the victim directly. If you could tell us a little bit about your conversation with him.

Deep Mukherjee: Yeah, so when I spoke with Meghwal, he was very scared, he was in the police station itself. And he repeatedly told me that he is scared and felt very humiliated because of the actions he said that he believes in the Ambedkarite ideology, and India is a secular country, and everyone has a choice to believe or not believe in whatever religion they want, and that he didn’t want to offend anyone. But he was hounded by those people for simply asking the question that why aren’t films on Dalit atrocities or issues pertaining to the marginalised communities are not met tax free. So he said that when he reached the temple on Tuesday, he found a crowd of more than 100 people, and they were all shouting and chanting slogans and they were forcing him to apologise and he had no option but to apologise and all the time, according to Meghwal, those people abused him and also mocked his Ambedkarite ideology, and like he had no option but to prostrate and rub his nose on the temple platform. So he said that he wants a strong action against the accused and also he’s feeling scared for his own safety because he lives in the same village as of the accused. And given the fact the controversy that took place resulted in him being pressurised constantly for past three four days, he is worried about like what will happen in the future and the local Bhim Army unit has also given memorandums to the police station and circle officers office saying that strong action should be taken against those involved

Snigdha Sharma: Right now, deep such cases have been on the rise in Rajasthan, can you help us get a clearer picture of what is happening in the state.

Deep Mukherjee: So caste plays a very big role in the Rajasthan a society and traditionally, it has been a feudal society where everything was caste driven, and that is why we feel a lot of Dalit atrocities like consistently increasing over the years. The police data says that 7.23% increase was registered in atrocities against sheduled caste which is Dalits in 2021, which was as compared to 2020. So this 7.23% increase like accounted for several different types of crimes, including 76 incidents have come up in the last 10 years where a Dalit groom was stopped from riding a mare in wedding ceremonies. And that is seen as a symbol of caste like assertion by the other upper caste people and that is why these incidents are very frequent in Rajasthan, where we see that the stones are tilted on a wedding procession. So in some districts, the police have actually come up with awareness tribes and initiatives to counsel people and to bring other communities and convince them to let the Dalits ride mare in their weddings. And recently also we found that in the case in Pali district, a man called Jeetendra Meghwal was killed. While initially there were reports that he was killed because of sporting a moustache, local police denied it. But at the same time, activists have maintained and leaders such as Chandrashekhar Azad have also met the family and have also posted on Twitter maintaining that moustache was one of the reasons for the murder. In that case, also, we found that there was a an FIR against the same accused who apparently murdered him registered way back in 2020, where the accused had entered the house of Meghwal and beat him up because they felt that he was not looking downwards and had the audacity to look up to them and that was also because of his caste. So two years back this case was there and two years later the same accused killed him. So this tells a lot about the very fragile position in terms of societal power that Dalits living in rural Rajasthan have because people can come and barge into their house and beat them up or kill them like what happened was Jeetendra was stabbed and he was killed it after nationwide outrage with several politicians including Dalit rights activist slamming the government over the issue. So caste atrocities have been on the rise. And that is why such incidents even like violence against with Dalit women cases have come up frequently recently, case of gang rape of Dalit woman in the Dholpur had come up. And also if we see like last year, too, there were incidents where stones were pelted in the legs wedding processions as near as Jaipur which is the capital in the same district stones are being pelted or there are incidents where people even an IPS officer who recently got married, even during his wedding procession, police were present so we can understand societal prejudice against Dalits from that that even police officer and IPS officer needs to have protection before riding a mare in Rajasthan.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So since this is clearly a pressing issue, and such incidents diamond again only bring out you know the dire need to take appropriate measures. So what steps have the authorities been taking?

Deep Mukherjee: there have been some steps which the police have taken to ensure that such incidents doesn’t arise. For example, there’s this circular last year which was issued by the Rajasthan police, the ADG crime additional Directorate General of crime issued it which gave a standard operating procedure for police stations in every district that if a Dalit wants to ride a horse or a mare during their wedding and what the police should do, how the police should ensure proper security how the local police station should be always be ensuring that nothing untoward happens during the procession. And at the same way like individual districts have also taken initiatives at their level like the operation Samantha, which translates to Operation equality in English in Boondi district where the police has formed Samantha committees in each village and they convince people that Dalits should also ride horses and they kind of ensure security also and bring other communities to the fold. Also, they also go to marginalised communities and talk to them about equality and constitutional rights. So there are initiatives which are in place to prevent atrocities from further happening, but I think there’s still a long way to go.

Snigdha Sharma: And now coming to Ukraine, India on Thursday abstained in the UN General Assembly on a resolution by Ukraine and its allies on the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Eastern European country. The 193 member General Assembly resumed its 11th Emergency special session on Ukraine and voted on Thursday on a draft resolution called humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine by Ukraine and its Western allies. The resolution was adopted with 140 votes in favour 38 Abstentions, and five against. On Wednesday, India along with 12 other UN Security Council members had abstained on a resolution by Russia on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The UNSC resolution failed to pass as it did not get the required nine yes votes, only Russia and China had voted in favour of the resolution. India had previously abstained on two occasions in the Security Council, and once in the General Assembly on the resolutions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that he thinks that Russia should be removed from the group of 20 or G20 major economies and the topic was raised during his meetings with world leaders in Brussels early on Thursday. On Thursday, the US and its allies imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, targeting dozens of Russian defence companies, hundreds of members of its Parliament and the chief executive of the country’s largest bank. The US Treasury Department also issued guidance on its website, warning that gold related transactions involving Russia may be sanctionable by US authorities. This move was aimed at stopping Russia from evading existing sanctions. The US and its allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions, including targeting the country’s largest lenders and President Vladimir Putin since Russian forces invaded Ukraine a month ago in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. You were listening to 3 Things by the Indian Express. Today’s show was written and produced by me Snigdha Sharma:and was edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook Twitter at @Expresspodcasts or send us an email at podcasts@indianexpress.com. And if you like the show, please do subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from so more people can find us. You can also look for us in the audio section in the top right corner of our website indianexpress.com.