Update 8: Thanks to all of you who, in various posts and comments, have defended me: in particular, this post by Gawker who points out Gaurav Sabnis’ vicious personal attack on me in the name of the dignity of the dead in contrast to his commendation of Aadisht Khanna’s abusive attack at a reader of How the Other Half Lives which certainly went against the dignity of a living person.
Update 7: My story. And do send an SMS for Surekha Bhotmange.
Update 6: My response to the issue of the photograph that is not anymore on this page.
Update 5: NDTV reported it last night but I wonder why the story does not mention that the massacre happened over a month ago?
Update 4: Here is a report (.pdf) by the Manuski Advocacy Centre and here is a post with a number of pictures and a lot of comments by Dalit activists from all over the world.
Update 3: Atrocity News has an interview with the doctor whose post-mortem report did not mention rape, and as a result the police is unable to include that as one of the charges in its investigation. It has been alleged that the doctor was under political pressure.
Update 2: Some of you have left comments asking that one of the photographs be removed. I have done so, but I don’t think I did any injustice to the dignity of the dead. I was doing justice to the dignity of truth. I will try to find time later in the day to explain this. Here is my explanation.
Update 1: Atrocity News says five more have been arrested, including two women, and names 3 people who still need to be arrested.
A little over a month ago, four members of a dalit family were massacred in Kherlanji, a village in district Bhandara, 120 kms away from Nagpur in Maharashtra. Here are two reports by Jaideep Hardikar in DNA, and a report in The Times of India yesterday. Here is the report of the fact-finding committee of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti;
A detailed report that I have written will appear later this week in Tehelka is here. Meanwhile, here are some photographs.
In the photos above, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange shows his hut from where the four members of his family were dragged away to members Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti’s fact finding team, which included Kishore Tiwari, Manoj Upadhaya, Vinod Tiwari, Mohan Jadhav and Moreshwar Watile.
The incident was reported in the rural Vidarbha supplements of Marathi press, which gave it the version of the perpetrators, that the act was provoked by Surekha Bhotmange’s extramarital relationship with Siddharth Gajbhiye, which was not true.
Priyanka Bhotmange, 17, was a Class XII topper and wanted to get into the army. This mugshot would have made it to her enrolment form.
Roshan, 21, was blind, and Priyanka, 17, had just been bought a bicycle by her doting mother Surekha.
