THREE dalits were killed on May 14 in Dangawas village of Nagaur district in Rajasthan and thirteen were seriously injured, among whom are six women in an attack unleashed on them by the dominant upper caste, the jats. The attack took place over the 23 bigahs of land of dalits which was forcefully possessed by jats since long. As rightful claimants of that land, dalits built huts in the farm land. The jat community called their caste panchayat on May 14, and pressurised the reluctant dalits to attend their panchayat. 100-250 jats arrived in tractors, Boleros and bikes and straightway attacked the Meghwal family. They mowed down Ratnaram Meghwal (65), Pancharam (60) and Pokaram (45) under tractors, and grievously wounded many others.

As usual, the police came after the attack. Had the police arrived on time, the bloodshed could have been averted. It took Nagaur police an hour to reach Dangawas village which is just three kilometres away from the police station.

A joint delegation of the CPI(M) and AIDWA visited Dangawas village on May 19. The joint delegation visited JLN Hospital, Ajmer and met the injured. Many of them suffered a heavy blow on their skull. Victim Khema Ram Meghwal’s legs got multiple fractures as a tractor was taken over his legs. All the other victims suffered multiple fractures on their limbs and some of them suffered grievous injuries on their head.

Victim Bidami Devi told the delegation ‘Do they own this land? Why they have done this to us? Pappudi, Shobha, Santosh, Geeta, Bidami and Bhanwari are six injured women among twelve victims, who are still unaware about the death of the three family members. Pokhar Ram Meghwal, Ratna Ram Meghwal and Pancha Ram Meghwal, aged between 50-60 years, died on the spot as they were mowed down under the  tractor by the jats.

At the hospital, the victims were not provided a bed in the general ward and were made to sleep on the floor without a mattress for two days. Meanwhile, attendants of the victims alleged that doctors were asking them to get medicines and surgical items from outside.

Later on, the delegation also visited Dangawas village. Fear on the faces of villagers was clearly visible. The villagers looked with suspicion at every stranger entering their narrow lanes. They whispered to one another and mostly expressed ignorance about the address that the outsiders asked about. The sharp divide on caste lines in the village was palpable. If one asked for the houses of the Meghwals who were killed on May 14, only the dalits in the village were willing to show the way. The jats, who were responsible for the violence, appeared most reluctant to talk.

When the delegation visited the house of Meghwal family, only outsiders were in the condolence meeting as the family members of the deceased were in the hospital either as a victim or attending them.

Residents of the dalit basti told the delegation that water supply was stopped since May 14. As the dalit colony is separated from the rest of the village, no other community lives in that area. It consists of 120 houses.

The delegation felt that the negligent attitude of the district administration and the police officials was responsible for the failure to stop the attack.

The joint delegation consisted of Sumitra Chopra, CPI(M) state secretariat member, Dr Praveen Kulshreshtha, CPI(M) district secretary of Ajmer, Kusum Saiwal, state general secretary of AIDWA, Santosh Rajda, Jaipur district committee member of AIDWA and advocate Meenu Verma.

Rajasthan state committee of the CPI(M) condemned the  BJP government for encouraging casteist and communal elements resulting in heinous murders and atrocities on weaker sections of society. It condemned the callous statement of the state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who, while replying to a question on Nagaur incident, said that they have no magic wand to catch the culprits. The state committee has demanded a CBI enquiry into the incident.