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Dalit organisations, political parties protest recent incidents in Parbhani, Beed
Several Dalit, social organisations and political parties condemn police for recent incidents involving the death of Dalit youth in judicial custody in Parbhani, kidnapping and murder of sarpanch in Beed
PUNE: Several Dalit and social organisations and political parties have condemned the police for recent incidents involving the death of a Dalit youth while in judicial custody in Parbhani and the kidnapping and murder of a Maratha Sarpanch in Beed.
Both the Matang Ekta Andolan, a social organisation, and the Republican Party of India (RPI) staged agitations in front of the Pune district collector’s office. Parshuram Wadekar of the RPI demanded an inquiry into these incidents and action against those found guilty.
A Dalit organisation issued a press statement which read, “After Dalit youths agitated in Parbhani, the police conducted search operations and beat the youths and women. Action should be taken against those found guilty.”
Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (SP) city unit president Prashant Jagtap said, “We are staging agitations in front of the collector’s office on Thursday for both the Parbhani and Beed incidents…”
Violence erupted in Parbhani after a replica of the Indian Constitution was vandalised on December 10. Somnath Suryawanshi, 35, a Dalit youth aspiring to be a lawyer, was among those arrested on December 12 and lodged in the Parbhani district prison. He died in judicial custody last Sunday due to ‘shock following multiple injuries’ as per an interim postmortem report. Suryawanshi had gone to his hometown Parbhani for a law exam and had nothing to do with the protests staged by the Dalit youths or the subsequent violence, according to his brother.
Whereas in Massejeog village in Beed, Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s body was found on December 9 following his kidnapping. The kidnapping and murder of a village headman belonging to the Maratha community snowballed into a caste issue as the prime accused, one Vishnu Chate, belongs to the OBC – Vanjari community; both at loggerheads over reservation.
