Two Dalit youth lost to caste-based atrocities in separate incident’s in state within fortnight

Additional reporting by Priyanka Tupe

Two Dalit youth fell prey and lost their lives to caste-based atrocities in separate incidents in the state, within a fortnight, questioning the ceased relevance of the prevention of atrocities act in the state.

Amidst lockdown and the fight against COVID-19, a 20-year-old Dalit youth was allegedly chased and brutally killed by six people in on Sunday night in a case of honour killing in Pune’s Pimple Saudagar.

According to the police, the deceased Viraj Jagtap was killed over the love affair that he had with the daughter of one of the accused. Out of six accused persons including two minors, police have so far arrested four people under relevant sections of IPC and The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

"On Sunday night, the accused, who was driving a tempo, hit the deceased who was on his two-wheeler. The deceased, after falling off the two-wheeler, tried to run, but the accused then chased him and hit him in the head using an iron rod. One of the accused hit him using a stone," said a police officer, attached with Sangvi Police station.

The officer said that the accused (father of the girl), identified as Jagdish Kate, used casteist remarks, admonished the deceased, and spat on him for having an affair with his daughter. The youth was taken to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries during the treatment, said the police.

While speaking to Indie journal, Gitesh Jagtap, deceased Viraj Jagtap's uncle, said," Viraj was killed as he was Dalit. Upper caste people killed him. It is a case of atrocity. He was threatened twice earlier, but the local politicians supported the accused."

Viraj was studying at the Mahatma Phule college, and he was also running a tour and travels business. He had a love affair with the daughter of one of the accused who was studying in his class. “Viraj lived with his mother in Jagtap Maher near Buddha Vihar at Pimple-Saudagar. His mother works at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. His father died when Viraj was just a child," his uncle added.

Justice for Arvind Bansod

Less than a fortnight ago, on May 27th, Arvind Bansod, a 32-year-old Dalit youth from Pipaldhara village in Nagpur, died a suspicious death. While his death has been registered as suicide, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has alleged that political pressure is being used to save Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP’s) Mithilesh aka Mayur Umarkar, who has been booked by the police under abetment of suicide. VBA has also questioned why the crime has not been booked under the atrocities act, when the accused had used casteist slurs against Bansod. Bansod was a highly educated social activist, who was preparing for competitive examinations.

1/2 नागपूर येथील 'वंचित'चे कार्यकर्ते अरविंद बनसोडचा मृत्यू संशयास्पद असतांना पोलीसांकडून मृत्यूचा योग्य तपास न करता मृत्यूस आत्महत्या म्हणून नोंद करून प्रकरण दाबण्याचा प्रयत्न होतोय.राष्ट्रवादी कॉंग्रेसचा पदाधिकारी आरोपी मिथिलेश उमरकरला वाचविण्यासाठी हे प्रकरण दाबण्यात येतय.

— Prakash Ambedkar (@Prksh_Ambedkar) June 5, 2020

When contacted, Bansod’s friend Gajanan Raut, the eye-witness narrated the incident to Indie Journal. “On May 27th, at around 9:30 am, Arvind and I went to the market in Thadipavani village. A woman from our village had asked us to register for a gas cylinder, so we clicked a photograph of the banner outside the shop. That was when a man from Umarkar’s shop came outside and seized my mobile phone. Umarkar also came out and started abusing and beating us, using casteist slurs. We left the shop, and I went to fill petrol in the two-wheeler. I was gone just for five minutes, but by the time I came back, Bhau (Arvind) was on the ground. Umarkar and his friends were taking him to the hospital in their vehicle, but they refused to let me go with them,” Raut said.

The local health centre had referred Bansod to hospital in Nagpur, where he died on May 29th.

“The police did not pay heed to my complaint when I went to them when Bhau was still in the hospital. Even later, they registered the FIR registered by his younger brother, and not by me. Even while he was alive in the hospital, the police had not come to take his statement until late. My statement was taken on May 30th, and I did not even get to read or sign it. Umarkar and his father are close to Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, and I believe that’s why everyone is trying to save him,” Raut added.

Indie Journal tried contacting Jalalkheda Police Station’s Police Inspector Deepak Dekate and Nagpur Rural Police Superintendent Rakesh Ola, as well as several NCP leaders including Nawab Malik, Shivraj Gurjar, Jitendra Awhad but we haven't received any response yet.