Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, the only member of the Bhotmange family who survived the attack, fought for justice for his family years. He passed away 20th January, 2017 due to a heart attack. (Source: Rons Bantwal, Daijiworld.com)
“A mob of predominantly Kunbis-Marathas tortured, raped, & murdered the Bhotmanges in Khairlanji, 2006. The violence was blamed on Surekha Bhotmange through rumours that she was having an affair & sold liquor.”
On September 29, 2006 four members of a Dalit family, Surekha, Priyanka, Sudhir, and Roshan Bhotmange were tortured and murdered by villagers mostly belonging to the dominant Maratha-Kunbi caste in Khairlanji, Maharashtra. Surekha and Priyanka were stripped naked, paraded around the village, and gangraped and tortured before being murdered.
Kunbi is a term used to refer to many traditionally non-elite agricultural castes from Western India. They are classified as OBC but are a dominant land-owning caste in many regions. All the other villagers were part of the mob too. This included the Kalars and the Gonds, both dominant castes.The Bhotmanges belonged to the Mahar caste, a Scheduled Caste in 16 states. They were one of only two Dalit families in the village who owned land and cultivated it for their livelihood. The Bhotmange family also ensured to educate their children. The dominant castes of the village could not accept this empowerment and frequently created conflicts, picked fights, and got violent against the family. The family faced caste oppression throughout their stay in the village, with Surekha not being allowed to construct a pucca house on her own land, and Priyanka being subject to casteist taunts even as she topped at her school.
On September 3, Siddharth Gajbijiye, the other land-owning Dalit in the village, was beaten up by some villagers belonging to the dominant castes of Kunbi, Kalar, and Gond. They allegedly did so due to a dispute over payment of agricultural wages. An FIR was registered against the assaulters later, in which Surekha and Priyanka served as witnesses. Around four years before this incident, Gajbijiye had stood by the Bhotmanges when the dominant caste families who owned the land around them were trying to forcefully seize their land.
The accused threatened them at that time, asking how they could dare to give witness against them, and saying that they will “finish them off”. They were arrested but released on bail the very next day, on September 29. Immediately after release, they went to Siddharth Gajbijiye’s house to take revenge, and not finding him, they held a meeting in the village with the local MP and MLA, shortly before going to inflict the violence on the Bhotmange family, suggesting that they had the backing of political powers.
According to Bhaiyalal, the only surviving member of the family, who was witnessed the lynching and rape of his family members, the mob went to their house, and some women from the OBC families dragged Priyanka and Surekha out of the house, beating them and tearing their clothes on the way. The sons were also caught and beaten up. The mob shouted, “You Mahars have let things go to your head”. They were tortured and murdered in the village square, with the involvement of the entire village, and their bodies dumped in a canal 2 kilometres away from the village.
After the incident, rumours were created in order to downplay the caste-based aspect of the violence. The rumours said that the violence took place because Surekha had an affair with Gajbhiye, and that she sold liquor- both questioning her morals and purity of character, in order to dilute the fact that the violence was a caste-based atrocity.
References:
https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7302:khairlanji-gruesome-massacre-of-dalits-dalit-fury-scorches-maharashtra&catid=122&Itemid=138
https://navayana.org/blog/2017/01/22/the-entire-village-was-involved-sir-entire-village-bhaiyalal-bhotmange/?v=c86ee0d9d7ed
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/09/29/a-decade-since-the-khairlanji-massacre-theres-been-no-let-up-i_a_21483135/
