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A “reign of terror” in Rajasthan

Special Correspondent

‘Dalit man shot dead for refusing to withdraw rape case’

JAIPUR: A Dalit man was allegedly murdered near Bilia village in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan this past week on his wife’s refusal to withdraw a rape case against a person belonging to the dominant Gujjar caste. With the prime accused now absconding, Dalits in the region claim that Gujjars are threatening them with dire consequences.

A fact-finding team of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), which visited Bilia earlier this week, found that the brutal murder of Banna Bairwa was the direct outcome of his struggle to get justice for his wife, while police were trying to hush up the rape case and shield the accused, Bhanwarlal Gujjar.

Bhanwarlal, accompanied by two other persons, allegedly followed Banna Bairwa, who was going from Bilia to Sadas village along with two of his friends on a motorcycle on July 6. Bhanwarlal allegedly fired at Banna Bairwa from point blank range, killing him on the spot. Dwarka Raigar, accompanying Banna Bairwa, was seriously injured in the incident.

NCDHR State monitoring secretary Suman Dewathia alleged here on Wednesday that Gujjars had unleashed a reign of terror in the region and were pressuring police not to arrest the accused, who has since absconded. Police have taken no action to protect the victim’s family and have not even supplied them with a copy of the first information report.

The 12-member fact-finding team, after examining medical reports and documents and interacting with the Dalit community, victim’s family members, eyewitnesses and those defending the accused, reached the conclusion that Banna Bairwa was killed because he and his wife were demanding stringent action against Bhanwarlal on the rape complaint they had lodged against him in Phulia Kalan police station a few months ago.

A delegation of NCDHR, Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR) and Dalit Adivasi Adhikar Abhiyan met the Bhilwara Collector, Hemant Gera, and Superintendent of Police, Mohan Singh, demanding immediate arrest of Bhanwarlal and his accomplices and probe the case in an impartial manner “without succumbing to political pressure”.

CDR Director Satish Kumar regretted that no senior official had visited the village since the murder took place, nor was any action taken to provide security to the victim’s family. “The family of the deceased is entitled to get an immediate financial assistance of Rs.1.5 lakh under Rule 12(4) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,” he said.

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