Dastardly honour killing in Kharda, Maharashtra: CPI (M) delegation calls for State-wide protests

Ajit Nawale

On April 28, 2014 there occurred a dastardly act of honour killing of a 17 year old Dalit youth called Nitin Aage in Kharda village of Ahmednagar district, bordering the Marathwada region. The sheer cruelty with which the act was perpetrated shocked Maharashtra and rekindled the tragic memories of the Khairlanji and Sonai Dalit massacres a few years ago.

The news was flashed in the media on May 1, which is both the International May Day of the working class and also Maharashtra Day – the day on which the state was formed in 1960. On the same day, the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee and Ahmednagar district committee issued a joint press release condemning this honour killing and calling for statewide protest demonstrations demanding the immediate arrest of, and stringent action against all the upper caste perpetrators of this heinous crime and steps for the protection and rehabilitation of the poor Aage family.

On May 4, a CPI(M) state delegation led by state secretary and central committee member Dr Ashok Dhawale and comprising state committee members Shailendra Kamble, Prakash Choudhari and Dr Ajit Nawale, district committee members Dr Mahebub Sayyad, Kiran Moghe and Subhash Thorat, and Party activists Dr Sanjay Dabhade and Suresh Bhor visited Kharda village to console the Aage family and to bring pressure on the authorities to ensure that justice was done. They were accompanied by activists of democratic organisations. 

CPI(M) delegation led by state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale consoling the Aage Dalit family in Kharda.

HEART-RENDING EVENTS

Kharda is a village with a total population of around 15,000. There are around 250 Dalit families, which means a population of around 1,000. The village and the entire surrounding area has dryland agriculture and is chronically drought-prone.

The Aage family originally hails from a small village in the Patoda tehsil of Beed district of Marathwada, but it migrated to Kharda in search of work about a decade ago. The slain boy Nitin’s father Raju Aage is a manual labourer who does the hard work of breaking stones in a quarry. Nitin’s mother Rekha is a casual labourer who does whatever work she gets. Since they are migrants they do not live along with the Dalit community in the village, but have an isolated small hut on the outskirts. Apart from Nitin who was their only son, they have three daughters, two of whom are married, and the youngest is in the eighth standard.

According to the narrative told to us by Raju Aage, on the fateful morning of April 28 Nitin went to his school which is just opposite his house for extra coaching classes for the twelfth standard. It appears that he was friendly with a girl from a so-called higher caste. She was one year his junior in school. On that day he was seen talking to that girl behind the school building by her brother Sachin Golekar. Sachin and his friends confronted Nitin and started badly beating him up in the school premises itself. 

Nitin Aage's school in Kharda village. It was here that he was first brutally beaten by upper caste youth.

Seeing this, the headmaster and some teachers, instead of stopping the beating and warning Sachin, apparently told them that “there should be no fights in the school premises, and that they should go out of the school compound and do what they want.” Raju Aage was very bitter about the role of the school teachers. He said that had they stopped the fight and sternly reprimanded the goons, his son might still have been alive today.

As it happened, Sachin and his friends dragged Nitin to a nearby brick-kiln owned by his maternal uncle Sheshrao Yevale. Here he was beaten up mercilessly by a hammer, he was burnt by iron rods and finally he was strangulated to death. The perpetrators of this crime were around a dozen upper caste people, most of whom were relatives of Golekar and Yevale. The inhuman torture of Nitin continued for over four hours. Then they took the body and hung it from a nearby tree in order to make it appear like a suicide by hanging.

Nitin’s parents got word that he had been severely beaten up. They frantically searched for him all over the village. Nitin’s mother went to the above brick-kiln where she was told by Sheshrao Yevale himself that they had beaten up Nitin and that he would return home in the evening. Finally, after a prolonged search they were stunned to find his body hanging from the tree. The post-mortem report showed that Nitin was assaulted and strangulated.

CLASS AND POLITICAL ANGLE

We went to the school and spoke to the headmaster who was not only evasive in replying to our questions, but also resorted to the ploy of attacking the character of the slain Nitin. We met the Investigating Officer in the case – Deputy Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Patil. He told us that a total of 13 people had been arrested. They had been charged with murder and the SC/ST Atrocity Act had also been applied. He said that no stone would remain unturned to secure their conviction and investigations were on towards that end. When asked about the girl, he said that she was safe and secure. As a result of the statewide uproar, the state home minister announced that the case would be conducted in a special fast track court. 

CPI(M) delegation meeting the Investigating Officer in the case Deputy SP Dheeraj Patil.

The Golekar and Yevale families were among the dominant economic and social strata in the village. Apart from having a reasonable amount of land they also owned several shops, a brick kiln and other paraphernalia. One member of the Golekar family was the deputy sarpanch of the village (the sarpanch post was reserved for the Scheduled Castes). Another family member was on the school board and another controlled the local co-operative. We were told that they owed political allegiance to the NCP for the last several years.

That perhaps explains why the guardian minister of Ahmednagar district, Madhukar Pichad of the NCP (who is himself an Adivasi) nevertheless took over five days to visit the village of the caste atrocity. He made the ridiculous excuse that the election Code of Conduct came in the way of his visiting the village earlier.

The need of the hour now is to build a strong unity of all sections of the working people, not only to condemn such caste atrocities and also atrocities on women that are on the rise in Maharashtra as also elsewhere in the country, but also to ensure that such ghastly incidents are prevented from occurring in the future.

Towards this end, immediate protest demonstrations were jointly organised by the CPI(M), the Jaati Anta Sangharsh Samiti (Struggle Committee for the Annihilation of Caste) and by various mass fronts in Mumbai, Pune and other places. Memoranda to the district collectors were submitted in some other districts.

Maharashtra has a glorious tradition of the social reform movement that was spearheaded by Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, among others. In view of these recent serious events, it is necessary that this tradition is taken forward with even greater grit and determination by the Left in the years to come.

Adivasi struggles in Maharashtra and the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM): A Note

The Adivasi population in Maharashtra as per the 2011 census is 1 crore 5 lakh. This is 9.4 per cent of the population of Maharashtra. In 2001 the proportion of the Adivasi population in the state was 8.9 per cent. Maharashtra has 10.17 per cent of the total tribal population in India. There are a total of 47 tribes and sub-tribes among the Adivasis in Maharashtra.

The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) was formed in Maharashtra at its first state convention held at the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar Bhavan at Talasari in Thane district on December 21-22, 2013. It was attended by 362 delegates from 15 districts, plus the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagarhaveli. There were 347 Adivasi delegates who came from 16 different tribes. The three major districts represented were the traditional bases of the Left movement in Maharashtra, viz Thane, Nashik and Nandurbar, but the significant feature was that representatives from a dozen other districts were also present.

The convention was addressed by Brinda Karat, Jitendra Choudhury and Dr Ashok Dhawale. There was a good discussion on the 18-page draft resolution placed by J P Gavit. The convention elected a 51-member state committee, which in turn elected J P Gavit (Nashik) as chairman, Barkya Mangat (Thane) as convenor and Jaising Mali (Nandurbar) as joint convenor. Veteran leaders L B Dhangar, Lahanu Kom and Kumar Shiralkar were elected as advisors. The two-day convention culminated in an impressive rally and public meeting.

Two years ago in November 2011, a preparatory state-level meeting to form the AARM was held at Belapur in New Mumbai. However, the platform and its work did not quite take off then. It has been resolved that this mistake should not repeat itself in the future.

Maharashtra has had a long and rich tradition of the Adivasi movement beginning with the historic Adivasi Revolt in Thane district from 1945-47 that was led by Comrades Shamrao and Godavari Parulekar under the red flag of the Kisan Sabha and the Communist Party. In the 1970s the movement spread to Nashik and Nandurbar districts. In the last one decade the movement among tribals has spread to newer districts like Nanded, Yavatmal, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Pune.

The traditional organisation that has been working among tribals for the last seven decades has been the AIKS. The AIKS is particularly strong in the tribal areas of Thane and Nashik districts and it also has good units in the tribal areas of Nandurbar, Nanded, Yavatmal, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Pune districts. The AIAWU has a good unit in Nandurbar district. The AIDWA and DYFI have good units in Thane district and some work in Nashik and some of the other districts above.

Hence our work report will briefly deal with the struggles led by the above mass organisations.

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF FOREST RIGHTS ACT

Two massive struggles were led by the AIKS in the last two years for the stringent implementation of the Forest Rights Act - in January-February 2011 and in April 2013. Over 50,000 tribals blocked state highways indefinitely on both occasions, forcing the state government to concede major demands. The two main issues that were raised were: mass rejection of thousands of genuine tribal claims to forest land, and granting land far less than what is actually being cultivated by tribals for long. Now a concerted follow-up is being conducted to see that the government decisions are implemented.

Another major land issue that has been taken up in Thane district is that concerning lands that are being tilled by tribals for several decades but which are still in the names of the old landlords. Now these lands are being sold to new fatcats and the tribals are being sought to be evicted. This is being opposed tooth and nail by all the mass organisations and struggles are being led on this issue.

ON INCLUSION OF NAMES OF RURAL POOR IN BPL LISTS

In 2012, the AIKS led another major statewide struggle for the inclusion of the rural poor in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) lists.  Large demonstrations of thousands of people were held in several tehsils of Thane, Nashik, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Yavatmal, Pune and many other districts. The total mobilisation in this statewide agitation was over 1,20,000, of which over 75,000 was from the tribal belt. In some districts, as a result of consistent follow-up, thousands of names of the poor were included in the BPL lists.

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NREGA

In districts like Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Thane, Yavatmal and some other districts, struggles were led by the AIAWU, AIKS, AIDWA and DYFI demanding work and proper wages under the NREGA. Many of these actions were successful and the tribals in various places received work and wages.

The DYFI in Thane district took up the issue of registration of seasonal migrant labour and the issuance of identity cards to them.

ON FOOD SECURITY AND THE PDS

The AIDWA in Thane and Nashik districts was in the forefront of struggles for food security and against corruption and mismanagement in the PDS. Thousands of quintals of rains being diverted to the black market were caught by our activists resulting in the suspension of licenses of the guilty ration shop owners. Campaigns were led for ration cards to those who did not have any.

The issue of malnutrition-related deaths of children was taken up in Thane, Nandurbar and Amravati districts by means of dharnas and demonstrations.

In Nashik district it was under our imaginative leadership that the novel Doorstep Ration Scheme was first started in the tribal areas of Surgana tehsil. This scheme is now being implemented in the state. It has served to check corruption in the PDS and to provide guaranteed grain to the poor.

ON DRINKING WATER AND IRRIGATION

The issue of drinking water and water for irrigation has been taken up in several districts, especially in the light of chronic drought conditions. Tribal districts have been wilfully neglected and water from here is often taken away to the non-tribal districts and areas.

The classic example of this is Thane district which has the largest water reservoirs in Maharashtra, but the tribal areas are bereft of even drinking water, leave alone water for irrigation. This is in spite of the fact that many of the dams built in the tribal areas are funded by the tribal sub-plan.

Now there is a new proposed river-linking scheme that aims to submerge several villages in some tribal tehsils in Nashik and Thane districts and take the water away to Gujarat and Mumbai. This is being stoutly opposed by the AIKS.

ON EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND HEALTH

In several districts, local issues concerning education, employment and health have been taken up. The SFI has taken up the issues of admissions in secondary schools and colleges and of atrocities on girl students in ashram schools in Thane and Nashik districts.

In Thane, Nashik and Nandurbar districts, several schools with thousands of students are being run well by educational institutions under our leadership. One senior and junior college named after Comrade Godavari Parulekar at Talasari in Thane district is also being run with nearly 2000 students.

ON ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN

There have been growing incidents of attacks and sexual violence against women and girls in the tribal areas. The infiltration of consumerist culture with its commodification of women has adversely affected the security of women in tribal areas too. As is the experience elsewhere, the police administration is often hand in glove with the guilty in such cases. The AIDWA has taken up many such issues in Thane and Nashik districts, leading to the arrests of the guilty. The observance of International Womens Day on March 8 and the Savitribai Phule Birth Anniversary Day on January 3 by the AIDWA has helped to make tribal women conscious of their problems and their rights.  A sustained campaign against superstitions has been carried out by the AIDWA in the tribal areas.