[Reader-list] draft joint statement on laxmanpur bathe dalit massacre judgement for endorsement

[Asit Das]

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*Draft Joint Statement on the Acquttal of the Convicts of Laxmanpur bathe
dalit massacre for endorsement*

We the undersigned are extremely  distressed and outraged by the Patna High
Court judgement on the 9th of October acquitting the murderers of the
infamous and shocking Laxmanpur Bathe Dalit masacre in the Arwal district
of Bihar. In the year 1997, Ranveer Sena, a dreaded upper caste feudal
private army of mostly Bhumihar and Rajput landlords descended on the dalit
tola of Laxmanpur bathe in the broad daylight and masacred 58 dalits, which
includes 27 women and 10 children. The cruelity and bestiality of the upper
caste vigitante attack of the Ranajir Sena was such that it didn’t spare
even 3 year old children. Atrocities on the dalits, sexual violence and
exploitation of dalit women, including genocides and day to day humiliation
that the dalits have been undergoing since centuries. From the time when
this shameful graded inequality, brahmanical social order came into
existence, which is India specific caste-feudalism; after the transfer of
power by the colonial masters to their desi compradors in India, the ruling
classes of India had betrayed its so called social contract with the Indian
people which it had promised after taking over the reins of state power
from their imperial masters. From the Nehruvian era, Kilvemani, Tsunduru,
Permakudi, Khairlanji and Karamachedu to Bathanitola is the bleeding post
colonial history of caste violence and genocides on dalits in this country.
which aspires to become a superpower, boasts of being the largest
democracy, liberal rights discourse, being its legitimising ideology which
Indian state has inscribed in its constitution. All those various rights
enshrined in the Indian constitution is turned into a sick joke every
moment. Indian liberalism is the most despicable fraudulence which the
Indian ruling elites have done to their toiling subaltern masses.
Throusands of fake encounters, custodial deaths and tortures, genocides and
mass gang rapes of oppressed nationalities, minorities, dalits, adivasis,
ethnic minorities and other marginal groups of the Indian caste Hindu
society. Indian state has made made mockery of the very term of liberalism.
The day to day caste violence and acquital of armed, feudal, vigilante
private armies clearly proves that Indian state is a upper caste Hindu
fascist state. From police to judiciary, Indian state stinks of extreme
caste prejudices towards  oppressed nationalities, minirities, dalits,
sexes and other marginal groups.

The district and sessions court of Patna in its judgement against
Laxmanpurbathe masacre had convicted 26 armed goons of Ranveer Sena. The
district sessions court had pronomunecd death sentence for 16 Ranavir sena
members and life sentence for 10 other members in 2010. The court had
acquited 19 accused for lack of evience. The then district and sessions
judge in Patna in his judgement had remarked about the masacre that ‘the
Laxmanpur Bathe Dalit masacre was a stigma on civil society.’ we are
horified by the casteist nature of the Indian judiciary which is yet to
have a proper representation of dalit judges.  The casteist mindset of the
judiciary has been evident right from the transfer of power to the desi
elites in 1947.



In the infamous Kilvemani massacre judgement in Tamilnadu, the trial judge
had noted about the murderer landlord that “the person of his social status
will not indulge in such acts”. In the Bhanwri Devi gang-rape judgement in
Rajasthan, the judges had noted “how can upper-caste men rape lower caste
women”. This clearly indicates the anti dalit, upper caste, nrahminical
mindset of the Indian judiciary.

In the Laxmanpur bathe acquittal judgement, the Patna High Court had noted
that ‘we are of the view that the prosecution witnesses are not reliable
and so all the convicted persons are entitled for benefit of doubt.’ So all
accused were set free. This clearly indicates the insidious casteist nexus
of upper caste landlords, police and bureaucracy and judiciary. This same
casteist Patna high court last year had acquitted the Ranajir Sena butchers
of Bathanitola in which 21 Dalits were killed. Apart from that, the
casteist judiciary of Bihar have acquitted the upper caste private armies
in Miyapur, narayanpur, Khagdibigha and nagribazar dalit masacres.
Successive judgements in cases relating to massacres/killings of
dalits/minorities/poorer sections of the people, acquitting the accused and
conspirators and at the same time awarding stricter punishments to even
unrelated people of dalits/minorities/poorer sections in cases involving
powerful is a matter of grave concern.

One has to see the cycle of violence and counter violence in Central Bihar,
the context of the class struggle which is being raged by the revolutionary
peasant resistance movements against the upper caste feudal lords in
central bihar. Decadent feudalism in its death bed becomes most obscene and
perverse; so it perpetrates the most sadistic and brutal violence and
masacres on the toiling  dalit men and women. The post-colonial India has
seen more than 100 dalit massacres in Bihar itself. To counter the demand
for land and dignity by the underdog who were organised by the communist
revolutionaries. The violence that engulfed the flaming fields of central
Bihar is the rusult of the sharpening contradictions between the archaic,
medieval and extremely exploitative agrarian relations. Which results in
carnages and sexual violence on dalit women. The most horrifying examples
of these gruesome massacres and medieval barbarism are: Belchi, Pipra,
Parasbigha, Tiskhora, Laxmanpur bathe, Bathanitola, Miyanpur, Nagri Bazar,
and so on. The list is endless.

The above violence must be seen in the context of the struggle of dalits
for land, dignity and against sexual violence on dalit women. This is a
direct result of the complete failure of Indian state of implement radical
land reforms and ensure the dignity of the dalits. The conflict in
Laxmanpur bathe was about the dalits’ rightful ownership of the government
land, i.e.,  50 bighas of gair mazaura land for which the dalits were
entitled and the upper caste landlords wanted to forcibly usurp.

The upper caste landlords raised dreaded private armies like Ranveer Sena,
lorik sena, bhumi sena, bramarshi sena, sunlight sena, diamond liberation
front etc. These decadent feudal vigilante armies have masacred more than 1
thousand dalit men, women and children. Thanks to the heroic revoltionary
peasant resistance momement central bihar all these private armies were
forced to surrender. Therefore, history has proved that only the underdog
when it gets organised and hits back can only break its chains. recently
there was a gang-rape and murder of a dalit girl student in jind, Haryana
where the police in connaivance with the upper caste rapists proved it to
be a suicide and the re was no rape. Around a month after that another
dalit girl student in sirsa, haryana was gangraped by upper caste lumpen
youths, her unconscious body was found in the next morning. the police
refused to file the rape FIR under the pressure of the upper caste. we are
firmly convinced that the dalits are not going to get any justice from the
upper caste hindu indian state apparatus. therefore we appeal to our dalit
brothers and sisters to get organised and hit back at the perpetrators.  we
appeal to the radical left forces, the radical Ambedkarites, the democratic
right movement, and the womens movement to form a principled joint forum
against atrocities and masacres on dalits and sexual violence on dalit
women.

We condemn the blatant anti dalit upper caste brahminical judgement of the
Patna High Court. We urge the radicl left forces, the womens’ movement, the
dalit movement  and the democratic right movement to join hands to fight a
decisive street battle against the decadent feudal upper caste brahminical
patriarchal and communal fascist forces in India.



Saheli – Delhi

Students for Resistance

Prof. Uma Chakrabarty – Women against State Repression and Sexual Violence
(WSS)

Anand Teltumbde – CPDR, Membai

Subhash Gatade – New Socialist Initiative

Sharad Gaikward – President, Republican Panthers, Maharashtra

Amiyadyuti Kumar – President APDR, Kolkata

Vira Sathidar – Editor, Virodhi, Maharashtra

Kiran Shaheen – Women for Water Democracy, Delhi

Swati Birla – Sanhati, Mumbai

Anil Chamadia – Journalist, Delhi

Bhasha Singh – Journalist, Delhi

Nayan Jyoti – Kranti Kari Navjawan Sabha (KNS)

Akbar Choudhury – President, JNU Students Union (JNUSU)

Chinmaya – United Dalit Students Federation (UDSFJNU)

Anand Krishan Raj – The Newmaterialists JNU

Abhay Kumar, Concerned Students JNU

Kavery Rajaraman – Sanhati, Bangalore

Kamayanibali Mahabal – Lawyer Feminist Activist, Mumbai

Vivek Sundara – Human Rights Activist, Mumbai

P.K.Sundaram – Research Scholar, JNU

Asit Das – Contributing Editor, India Resists.com

Usman – Research Scholar, JNU

Nitin Kumar – Student , Indian Institute of Mass Communications, Delhi

Hadi Sarmadi  - BAHROOP, Progressive Theatre Group, JNU

Ramashankar Yadav Vidrohi – Radical Left Balladeer and Poet, JNU

Mayur Chettia – Research Scholar, JNU

Archana – Research Scholar, JNU

Dinesh Kumar – NSYOF, JNU

Anuradha Pandey – Research Scholar, JNU

Ashish Kumar – Research Scholar, JNU

Imran – Radical Left Activist, Delhi

Vikram – Student, Centre for Russian Studies, JNU





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