A CPI(M) delegation comprising Brinda Karat (Member, Polit Bureau and MP), Mahendra Mule (member, Maharashtra state committee), Kalindi Deshpande (vice president, AIDWA) and local CPI(M) activists visited the Khairlanji village in Bhandara district on November 9 and met the surviving members of the dalit family, four of whom had been brutally butchered. The delegation has issued the following statement on November 10, 2006:
The CPI(M) demands an immediate CBI enquiry into the unspeakable brutality and savage murder of the Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village.
The CPI(M) demands the immediate prosecution and arrest of all police officers and doctors concerned who have connived in helping the accused. The photograph of the two women Surekha (43) and Priyanka (18) show that there is no single inch on their body which has not suffered some injury and the postmortem does not reflect it at all. The doctor did not even do the mandatory vagina swab and therefore the claim of the administration that there was no sexual assault before they were butchered is questionable.
The delegation met Baiyajee Bhotmange, Siddharth Gharbayee and his brother Rajan (eye witnesses) and spoke to several people in the village. It also met the District Commissioner Shri Limaye. Clearly, the investigation is contaminated and polluted with crass anti-dalit prejudices. Evidence has been destroyed, the postmortem report fudged, accused given time to build their alibis and witnesses threatened. Even a month later, the state government has not intervened to prevent this grave assault on justice and constitutional provisions for scheduled castes.
The CPI(M) condemns the statement of the Dy. Chief Minister of Maharashtra that the dalit protests are motivated by the extremist elements. It indicates the total insensitivity of the state government to the violence.
The delegation was shocked to find that several complaints made by the victims were not taken adequate note of by the administration and the police which in fact could have prevented the crime from occurring.
A detailed report will be presented to the Prime Minister to request the intervention of the central government since the state administration has little credibility.
(Originally published in People’s Democracy, November 19, 2006.)
