Image Curtsey: gsannah.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ambedkar-1.jpg

 

Image Curtsey: gsannah.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ambedkar-1.jpg

 

 

In a small village called Borgaon in Tasgaon tehsil in Sangli district a 62 year old dali man lost his life to upper caste arrogance. Vaman Nyaynirgune was working on his farm with his wife’s brother Sunil Kamble on 15th July 2015.

Two men from the Martha caste Sachin Patil and Chandrakant Patil drove by on their motorcycle and asked Sunil for Vaman whereabouts. Sunil answered them and turned around to continue work, only to be beaten without any provocation. They just said he did not ‘GREET’ them with the respect befitting a Patil.

Sunil went and informed Vaman who sent him with his son to the nearest police station which is in Tasgaon 14kms from Borgaon, and continued to work on the farm. When Sachin and Chandrakant found that a case is being registered against them, they got so angry that a dalit could go to the police station to report them, they went back to Vaman’s farm and beat him up. When Vaman’s son returned to the farm he found his father beaten up and lying on the ground. They rushed to the hospital in Tasgaon but he was declared dead on arrival.
This is the second death of a dalit man to uppercaste arrogance in recent times in the so called progressive state of Maharashtra .

Maharashtra is known for its purogami   progressive ,reformist or forward  movement which was s led by PhuleShahuAmbedkar in modern times.

Unfortunately progressive groups are fast asleep and have not responded to this atrocity.

How many more dalit deaths do they need to fight back?

If we had responded in anger when the young boy in Shirdi was killed recently, maybe just maybe the uppercaste would not become so emboldened.

How many more such deaths?

 

To,

Hon. Collector/District Magistrate,

Sangli District, Maharashtra State.

Subject: Sangram condemns the murder of Waman Nyaynirgune!!  Demand to take strict punitive measures against anti-social elements indulging in communal/caste-based violence

Respected Sir,

The past few weeks have witnessed a number of serious incidents outside as well as in our own State, where persons belonging to the Dalit community have fallen victim to casteism/communal/casteist forces. These forces now seem to have reached our district too, and we hope that strict punitive measures shall be taken against their rampant activities.

Waman Subrao Nyaynirgune, an old farmer from Borgao village of Tasgao taluk, was brutally murdered by two youth from the same village who held a grudge against him for the progress that Nyaynirgune had made in his farmland. This is indeed an extremely grave and heinous crime that indicates that even in this day and age, there has been no change in the perception of the so called upper-castes, towards the Dalit community. The deceased Waman Nyaynirgune had toiled all his life as a hamaal (coolie/porter) in a company in Mumbai, and on return to his village after retirement, had used all his savings for agricultural development in his farm land. He diligently worked on his land to achieve progress and since the past few years had started getting good returns for his hard work. This should in fact, have made the village proud, but the two youth on the contrary, reprimanded him for this saying that he had surpassed the “higher” castes in a short time after his return from Mumbai, and that he should “keep in mind” that they belonged to the Maratha community. Waman tried to reason with them and advised them to work hard as well, so that they too could achieve the same results. However, the matter was not put to rest.

On the day of the incident, the suspects Chandrakant and Sachin Patil, lodged a hard blow on the neck of Sunil Kamble, brother-in-law of the deceased. Hereafter, Sunil Kamble and Ratnajit- Waman’s eldest son, lodged a complaint against Sachin and Chandrakant, at the Police Station.  The Police should have taken severe action immediately, but they failed to do so. When Waman questioned Sachin and Chandrakant about their assault on Sunil Kamble, he too was brutally kicked and physically abused by the two. On their return, Sunil and Ratnajit found Waman lying on a bed and when asked what the matter was, he told them about the severe beatings and abuse that he had suffered at the hands of Sachin and Chandrakant. He died soon after.

Sir, we urge you to differentiate this incident from other, regular murder cases. The mentality of intolerance of the “higher castes” who cannot bear to see anyone else having bettered them or superseded them in any manner,  is at the root of this brutal crime. This is an extremely serious incident which has once again proved how the so called upper castes still bear a deep-seated hatred in their minds, towards the dalit community and the minorities. This hatred has now escalated to such levels that it has led to their unscrupulously murdering a person from the Dalit community. It is a shameful and sad truth, that the fact that Waman Nyaynirgune belonged to the Dalit community, was solely responsible for his death.

Two months ago, a dalit youth was murdered with the excuse that he used Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkars’s song as a ringtone for his mobile phone. There was a killing in Chennai of a youth and his family named Jindal on the issue of a love-affair. These incidences bring shame to our democracy and the fact that a progressive State like Maharashtra should witness such incidents is a cause of even more distress and outrage. Unfortunately, not a single “progressive” organization in this State has cared enough to even protest or seek justice in this matter. We request you to intervene as a District Magistrate, and take appropriate steps to ensure that the District is free of such communal/casteist forces and their brutality which leads to such senseless loss of life.

Regards,

Meena Saraswathy Seshu

Secretary, Sagram Sanstha, Sangli

 Meena  Seshu, Sangram – [email protected] 
enclosed letter to DC, Sangli.