[Reader-list] Joint Statement on the Acquttal of the Convicts of Laxmanpur bathe dalit massacre

[Asit Das]

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

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 goingon 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,religeous minorities, dalits, sexual,linguistic,
ethnic 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, brahminical
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, savarn liberation front, brhamarshi sena etc. These decadent feudal
vigilante armies have masacred more than 1 thousand dalit men, women and
children. Thanks to the heroic revoultionary 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 front 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, Delhi University and JNU

Arjun Prasad Singh                 PDFI



Gopal Guru                             Prof. JNU and Eminent Dalit Thinker,
CPS/SSS/JNU
Tulsiram                                  Professor JNU and Eminent Dalit
Writer

Vivek Kumar                                      Professor JNU and Eminent
Dalit Writer

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

Anand Teltumbde – CPDR, Membai

Subhash   gatade     convenor   new socialist initiative

Sharad Gaikward   President  Replubican Panthers   Marashtra

Amidyuti kumar  APDR   KOLKATA

B.Sreenivas rao   president pop   andhra pradesh

prof  Chaman lal ex professor jnu

 Vir bharat talwar professor jnu

Anita bharti dalit feminist activist and editor streekal a dalit feminist
journal

Gail omvet   dalit movement theorist and activist

Bharat patankar dalit movement theorist and activist

 katyani   eminent marxist feminist poetess

 Gabriel   Detrich    feminist thinker  and member penura mayi iyakkam an
autonomous progressive womens group   madurai

 Maya john   centre for struggling women delhi

Hargopal eminent political theorist hyderabad

prof Manoranjan mohanty   politcal thinker and democratic rights activist
delhi

 prof  G.N Saibaba   professor english delhi university

Nivedita Menon   feminist thinker and professor jnu

 Aditya nigam   CSDS DELHI

Pothik Ghosh    radical notes   delhi

Alok     krantikari yuva sanghathan   KYS   delhi

Soma marik      Radical socialist kolkata

Kunal chatopadhyay   Radical socialist kolkata

Amar singh    gen secratary delhi university colleges staff union and
president sc welfare association du

VS Roy david  natinal adivasi alliance

Subhrodeep chakraborty film maker delhi

meera chakraborty   film maker delhi

Shamsul islam      NISHANT NATYA MANCH DELHI

Neelima Sharma   nishant natya manch delhi

Srirupa   REVOLUTIONARY CULTURAL FRONT JNU

Brahmprakash   JANRANG JNU

MARTAND     JAN SANSKRITI MANCH   JNU

Sumati pannkar  VIPLAV SANSKRITIK MANCH  DELHI

 Bharti  VIPLAV   SANSKRITK MANCH DELHI

Ish Narayan Mishra     JANHASTHKSHEP   DELHI



Vira Sathidar – Editor, Virodhi, Maharashtra

Kiran Shaheen – Women for Water Democracy, Delhi

Swati Birla – Sanhati, Mumbai

Bhasha Singh – Journalist, Delhi

Satyam verma journalist delhi

Nayan Jyoti – Kranti Kari Navjawan Sabha (KNS)

 Piyushraj    AISA JNU

Siddhi    NOWROZ and student jnu

Snehil manohar singh   student jnu

 Ram Puniyani    all india secular forum

Shidharth Mitra     SANHATI

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 –                               PDFI, Delhi

Santosh Kumar                       Mazdoor Patrika, Delhi

Subhasini                                 KNS DELHI

Meghna Arora                         KNS DELHI

Omprasad                                research sholar jnu

Badre alam                              research scholar delhi university

Meena Menon                         activist mumbai

Ayushi                                      student tiss mumbai

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



D. B. Singh-                                        RLA(Eve), D.U., New
Delhi

y. Chinnar Rao,                                   CSDE/SSS/JNU

Kaustav
CSDE/SSS/JNU

Mohita
CSDE/SSS/JNU

Manindra Nath Thakur                       CPS/SSS/JNU

Mujib Rahman

Meha Thakore                                     CSSS/SSS

Sucheta De
(AISA)

Afiya Khalid

Abhisuchi Jha

Rakhi Sehgal                                       ,

Vismay Basu                           Researcher Scholar, JNU

Brijesh                                     Researcher Scholar, JNU

Vasudha                                  Researcher Scholar, JNU

Suchismita                               Researcher Scholar, JNU

Shruti                                      Researcher Scholar, JNU

Amitanshu                               Researcher Scholar, JNU

Tathagata Biswas                    Researcher Scholar, JNU

Munni Bharati                         Researcher Scholar,
JNU

AK Ramakrishnan                  Professor SIS, JNU

Anand Kumar                                     Professor JNU

Sandeep Saurav                      (Gen. Sec, JNUSU)

 Agnitra Ghosh                       Researcher Scholar,
JNU

Fauzan Abrar                          Researcher Scholar,
JNU

Sudhanshu Lal                                    Researcher Scholar,
JNU

Lata Kumari                            Researcher Scholar, JNU

Saptarshi Chaudhuri               Researcher Scholar, JNU

Debaditya Bhattacharya         Researcher Scholar, JNU

Akanksha Ahluwalia               Researcher Scholar, JNU

Sagar Sachdeva                       Researcher Scholar, JNU

Ahrey Adhikari                       Researcher Scholar, JNU

Sarojini Chatterjee                  Researcher Scholar, JNU

Abhimanyu Pratap                  Researcher Scholar, JNU



Simpreet                                  Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan,
Mumbai

B. Srinivasa Rao,                    President, POP. Andhra Pradesh

K. K. Niyogi                           All India Platform for Laboir Rights

Anil Mishra                             I.P. Foundation, For Asian Democracy

Jaya Velankar                         National Alliance for Maternal Health
& Rights

Gopal                                     Himalaya Niti Samvad, Uttarakhand

Shubhradeep Chakravarty                  Film Maker, Delhi

Meera Chaudhary                               Film Maker, Delhi

Meena Menon                                     Activist

Sirupa Bhattacharya    Revolutionary Cultural Front (RCF)

Siddhi (JNU)

Snehil Manohar  Singh (JNU)

Badre Alam     (DU)

Om Prsad        (JNU)

SanhitaVal      (The Indian Era)

Ashish             (IIMC), Research Associate

Amar Singh     (Gen. Sec) D.U.

Dr. Satenatk Choudhary, (Alliance for Social Justice), Mob:
+91-9212224183


Anshita            (KNS, Delhi)

Sumati             (Viplav Sanskritiik Manch)

Nagendra        Inclavi Mazdoor Kendra

Piyush Rai       (AISA), JNU

Guddi S.L. (YMYB), Mumbai, Mob: +91-9869059860

Alok    Krantikari Yuva Sangathan

Maya John (Centre for Struggling Women)

G. Hari Gopal TISS

Bharti  Viplav Sanskritik Manch

Manjoo Mohan            Samajwadi Janta Party

Manish                                    Phoneme Books,
Delhi

Ayushi TISS

Tarun Kanti Bose                    Independent Writing & Editing
Professional

Renny Thomas                        CSSS/SSS/JNU

Deepak Dengle                       Kabir Kala Manch, Pune

Papori Bora                             Asst. Professor, Women’s Studies
Centre, JNU

Abhishek Guru                        Journalist, Delhi

Shree Prakash                          Journalist, Delhi

Bhupen Singh                         Journalist, Delhi

Prakash Kumar Roy                Editor Bargad, Delhi

Bernard Phellow                     CPDR, Mumbai

Devangana Kalita                   KNS, JNU

Pratik                                       Student

K. T. Hafis                              EFLU, Hyderabad

Damodar Editor                      For a people democracy

Vijay Kumar Choudhary



P.K. Kaushal                           MCPI (U)

Neshat Keisar                          Associate Professor, Dept of
Sociology, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi

Vinkat Marojn                         Boston, USA

Geeta Jhamb                           Green Souls, Mumbai

Dr. Ajita                                  WSS

J.P. Raju                                  President, Buda Kuttu,
Krishikara Sangha, Karnataka

Poornima Chikar Mane           Pune


Anil Chamadia –                     Journalist, Delhi


Praful Bidwai                          Ecomarxist thinker, Delhi

Dhruv Narain                          Janam Foundation, Patna



Abhiruchui Ranjan                  Research Scholar and Member GSCACSH
(Gender sensitization committee on sexual harassment), JNU

Kavita Krishan

Ajay Gudavarti                       Asst. Professor Center for Political
Studies JNU

Rajarshi Dasgupta                   Asst. Professor Center for Political
Studies JNU