Nalanda District in the state of Bihar is a hub of rapes and murders of Dalit men and women. The land of Buddha turns out to be the curse to Dalits in Rajgir where Lord Buddha got enlightenment. A newly married couple Harikumar Das (21) and his wife Rimi Devi (18) were happily living there at Rajgir. They had just married on 2.10.2006 in a temple. The new family did not any kind of enmity with others.

However, 17^th Oct, 2006 brought a terrible event at their fate. Rajesh Singh s/o Suresh Singh, the perpetrator came with 5 of his friends in their house at 10.30pm when Harikumar Das was fanning himself outside the rented house. When he saw them in his house he boldly questioned them of their being there at late night. This angered the perpetrator Rajesh Singh. He abused him and his wife saying, “you bastard how can you enjoy alone having sex with Rimi?” Harikumar Das responded to him saying that Rimi is his wife and so he has the right to have sex with her. Anyhow they have the consent with each other by oath. Rajesh started beating Harikumar Das and his wife, looted jewelries and 15,000 rupees, dragged them out of the house, and took them to a nearby house and put Harikumar Das and Rimi in separate rooms. They stripped Rimi naked and tried to rape her but hearing her shout Harikumar Das came out of the room and ran to save her. He then was kicked out and brutally beaten up.

Thereafter the perpetrators dragged them to the petrol pump cabin owned by Rajesh Singh the main perpetrator. They all raped Rimi one after the other and ran away from the place leaving them outside the cabin. She was unconscious. When she came to the consciousness, her husband covered her body and brought her home. The perpetrators threatened them that if they make complaint to the police they too will rape her because they are giving petrol to the police free of cost and pay 25 thousand rupees to them every month. They are confident that the police is under their grip. Hence the victim Rimi went to Bakhtiyarpur, her mother in law’s place and narrated the whole incident. Her mother in law Sumitra Devi w/o late Bhola Das who works in the Ganesh High School at Bakhtiyarpur took her to Rajgir police station and lodged FIR. The police over there mentally tortured Rimi asking her not to mention the name of the perpetrator Rajesh Singh. With great difficulties the police registered the FIR no. 364/06 registered on 22.10.2006 u/s 342/ 323/ 379/ 376/ 504/ 34 IPC. On the same day they took her to Civil Hospital, Biharsharif for the medical report. The perpetrator Rajesh Singh is so influential that the doctors gave the reports in favour of the perpetrator. From there she was back to her mother in law’s house.

Till now the police have not arrested even a single rapist instead in connivance with the perpetrators the police are torturing the victim and her family. The father of the main accused, Suresh Singh is constantly defending his son. He states that the victim Rimi is a prostitute. No matter some people might have raped her and she wants to trap his son.

Case in Brief:

Pentamma w/o late Balakrishna, aged 50 years belongs to Madiga community.  She is a vegetable vender.  On 1^st October 2006, the village people attacked Pentamma alleging that Pentamma performed black magic on deceased Laxmamma. Few days back Laxmamma committed suicide.   Showing this as a reason, more than 15 villagers brutally attacked and tied her to telephone pole.  Then they drenched her in kerosene and tried to kill her.  Unable to bare the harassment, Pentamma said another name Padmamma.  The villagers tied her and brutally beat her. After some time the police knew the information through advocate Balamukundam and one of the Vaartha reporters. They stopped and saved the women.

According to Pentamma’s statement, 7 years back Pentamma purchased house of one of the villagers Chandraiah. After that she spent one lakh rupees and repaired that house. After remodeling the house, Chandraiah took back the house only for 50 thousand rupees. Pentamma refused that proposal but he forced Pentamma. Till the day Chandraiah was waiting for a cause to attack Pentamma. Under these circumstances, Laxmamma committed suicide because of her personal problems. Mr. Chandraiah used this opportunity and alleged allegation on Pentamma and he mobilized village people against Pentamma.

Recommendations:

1.    Protection should be given to the victims
2.    Remaining accused should be arrested.
3.    Government should conduct awareness camps on superstitions.
4.    Rehabilitation and compensation should be provided.

Siddharth aged 49 years was the police associate of Dhusala Village. He was having his own farm. He tried to mediate between Bhayyalal Bhotmange and villagers on land disputes. Upper Caste villagers wanted a big road through Bhotmange farm and used to take tractors and other vehicles through his farm and on this issue Bhotmange family was isolated by upper caste. When Siddharth tried to mediate on the issue and tried peaceful solution, he was attacked by upper caste by chasing 1.5 Km. and beating them at Kharlanji village on 3^rd Sept. 2006. Priyanka Bhotmange saw the accused Hindu Upper Caste villagers of Khairlanji chasing Gajbhijye, sister Surekha, daughter Priyanka and both their sons brought uncle Gajbhijye to their residence. They informed Gajbhijye’s brother Rajendra and he took the injured brother to native Dhulasa village. Siddharth Gajbhijye was admitted at Roy Hospital at Kaptee town, near Nagpur. Hospital authorities informed the case to Kamptee Police Station and the Case was registered against the attackers from Khairlanji village by Kamptee Police. The case was transferred to Andhalgaon Police Station and Police arrested 12 accused from khairlanji village on 29/09/2006 and on the same day all the accused were freed by Mahadi Taluka Court on bail. Both Mrs. Surekha Bhotmange (Mother) and Priyanka Bhotmange (Daughter) were the witness in the case in the Court. Just because they were the witness of the incident of attack on Siddhartha Gajbhijye, upper caste people took revenge by brutally killing them

 Siddharth Gajbhiye a dalit himself, is a police associate of the police hired on an honorarium, and has political connections in the Congress. This gave him some leverage to be of help to the sprinkling of dalit households who lived in constant fear of the upper castes. One such family was that of Surekha Bhotmange, 45, who tilled her five-acre plot in Kherlanji village, along with her husband Bhaiyyalal, growing cotton and rice. In 1996, two acres had been taken away as \\\'easement area\\\' to build a road, so that neighboring farmers, who belong to the Powar and Kalar upper castes, could take their tractors across to other villages. Now they wanted more of their land for a water pathway, and Gajbhiye was helping Surekha resist that Gajbhiye and Bhotmange were in fact cousins, belonging to the Mahar caste. On September 3, a mob beat up Gajbhiye, the ostensible reason being his alleged illicit relationship with Surekha Bhotmange. Gajbhiye filed a police complaint against 15 men from Kherlanji village, 12 of whom were arrested. Surekha signed on the FIR as one of the witnesses and identified the 12 in a police parade. Twenty-six days later, on September 29, as soon as the 12 men were released on bail, they were taken away in a tractor by their relatives. They got drunk and went to the Bhotmanges\\\' hut threatening to finish off the entire family. Then they went looking for Gajbhiye and his brother Rajan, an engineering student. On not being able to find them, the drunken group returned to the Bhotmanges\\\' hut and broke down the door.

As per details provided all relatives to the fact finding committee the barbaric details are Bhaiyyalal’s wife surekha, 44, his daughter priyanka, 18, sons, roshan, 23, and sudhir, 21, were first stripped naked, dragged from their hut to the choupal 500 meters away and hacked to death by the entire village of the so called upper-castes. “Surekha and her daughter priyanka were humiliated, bitten, beaten black and blue and then gang-raped in full public view for an hour before they fell dead. “The perpetrator had inserted sticks into their private parts,”. The two sons were kicked and stabbed repeatedly. The assaulters then mutilated their private parts too, disfigured their faces and tossed them in air before the twosome lay dead on the ground. “When the dusk had settled, four bodies of this dalit family lay strewn at the village choupal, with the killers pumping their fists and still kicking the bodies. The rage was not over. Some angry men even raped the badly mutilated corpses of the two women.”

Alleges Rashtrapal Narnaware, Surekha’s nephew” Intriguingly, the post-mortem report says surekha and priyanka were not raped. “Doctors were managed, and the police bribed,” “Everyone in kherlanji knows what happened with my aunt and cousins, everyone was a witness to the heinous crime,” he says furiously.  The plot was meticulously planned. First, they propagated that she had illicit relation with the police-patil of neighboring Dhusala village Siddhartha Gajbhiye, who was actually her cousin. Siddhartha, a dalit too, was the only person who stood by this family. The mob didn\\\'t realise that Bhaiyyalal Bhotmagne and Siddharth\\\'s brother Rajan had seen the four victims being dragged away to the village chaupal, Priyanka strapped to a bullock cart. By now, men allegedly from the entire village of about 150 Powar and Kalar families had collected. Some shouted to the sarpanch to allow them to sexually assault the women. Siddharth Gajbhiye called the Andhalgaon police station, some six kms away, at 6.15pm, asking for help. As a frightened Bhaiyyalal escaped to another village to save his life, the four bodies were thrown at different places in the periphery of the village. Head Constable Baban Mesharam reached Kherlanji at 8:30pm and got wind of the incident, but did not register the report.

 Next day, when Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange went to the police station and filed an FIR, SHO Siddheshwar Bharne did not believe him. It was only when the police patrol started flashing reports of the discovery of mutilated dead bodies on the wireless the next day that he filed an FIR. Constable Meshram and SHO Bharne both stand suspended. Photographs of the bodies of Surekha and Priyanka taken by the police showed sticks and rods in their genitals. By the time they reached the post-mortem table, the sticks had disappeared. Charge Sheet in the case has been filed. Trial of the case is pending disposal before the court and listed for witnesses. Cross Examination of witnesses started on 3^rd May. P.P Mr. Vijawas Nigam and C.B.I lawyer insisted before the court for early hearing but the same was rejected. That was shocking for everyone. It seems that Kherlanji case will also be tried like other case. Kherlanji witnesses are under immense pressure as they feel prolonged trial will affect the case in long run. Witnessess are receiving threats continuously. C.B.I. is looking forward for the possibilities of running case in Special court.