Here’s everything you need to know about Una Incident
What is the incident?
In a shocking incident, seven Dalit men were brutally beaten up and humiliated by ‘gau rakshaks’ as they accused of killing a cow and then skinning it near the town of Una in Gujarat.
The incident took place on July 11th and was shot in a video causing a nationwide outrage. In the video, victims were seen tied to a car and beaten with iron rods and belts. They were also dragged and paraded through the road before being taken to the police station. However, accused Dalits claimed that they didn’t kill the animal and contended that they only skinned a dead cow.
Aftermath of the incident
The incident sparked unprecedented protests in the state which led to blocked traffic, rallies, stone pelting, destruction of public property and violence. In order to attain justice, protesters submitted a memorandum to the town’s mamlatdar and demanded stern action against (Hindu gang members) gau rakshaks who publicly flogged Dalit men.
The day after the incident took place, police arrested two accused. The situation became worse when in order to register their protest, a number of Dalit youth began to attempt suicide including a Congress Councilor by consuming poison and phenyl taking the toll up to 17. They were rushed to nearby hospitals after their condition deteriorated. The suicide reports majorly came from Dhoraji and Gondal town in Rajkot district.
Also a group of Dalits camped outside the office of district collector in Surendrangar with animal carcasses loaded in five vehicles. They threatened that until the accused are punished, they will not quit disposing carcasses on their office doorstep.
During mob violence on July 12th in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a policeman was killed. Over dozen others including seven policemen were injured in Amerili meanwhile one of them succumbed to head injuries while trying to control stone pelting.
A Dalit youth in Bantva town of Junagadh lost his life at the Civil Hospital after he consumed acid. Other three people who were recognized as Dinesh Rajabhai Vegda, Jesingbhai Parmar and Rasik Virabhai were taken to Junagadh hospital after they consumed phenyl.
Public properties were set on fire which included state transport buses near Jamnagar and Amreli town. Certain parts of North Gujarat (Amreli, Bhavnagar and Saurashtra) declared bandh after facing stone pelting across the town. Around 500 protestors were arrested for engaging in violence.
Around 200 cow vigilante groups have been the cause of violence in the state of Gujarat. In the last year there were a number of incidents of such groups raiding slaughter house and intercepting vehicles transporting animals as they assume that they going to be slaughtered. So much so that the Chief Secretary G.R. Gloria told The Hindu on Thursday: “We are going to take strong action against such groups. These vigilantes are self-proclaimed gau rakshaks but in actual fact they are hooligans.”
With growing anger and rage among the community and police being unable to do anything about it, Una police inspector and assistant sub-inspector who were in charge of the area got suspended. In the wake of the incident, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel ordered a Special Public Prosecutor to take up the case along with a CID inquiry for a speedy trial in the matter.
Who are Dalits?
Traditionally, there are four principal castes under Hindu caste system and one of them is Dalit who fall outside the caste system. Their community face discrimination at almost every level right from education to medical facilities. There are approximately 17 million Dalits in India constituting over 16% of total population.
Approximately three-quarters of the Dalit workforce are in the agricultural sector of the economy. A majority of the country’s forty million people who are bonded laborers are Dalits.
The word Dalit can be translated to ‘broken’ as they are referred to people who were once known as ‘untouchables’. Since Dalit is not a religion, the discrimination doen to them will not end even if they change their religion. As a result, dominant castes in the country maintain leadership meanwhile Dalit members of these religions are marginalized and discriminated.
What is to like to be a Dalit in Gujarat?
Unlike Punjab and West Bengal where Dalit constitute more than 20% of the total population, Gujarat state counts a low proportion. According to the 2001 Census, there are approximately 3.6 million members of Scheduled Castes in Gujarat, which represents 7.1% of the state’s total population. Utter discrimination, manual scavenging and atrocities committed against them on a daily basis leads to with more than 4,000 cases reported in the span of 3 years.
The government of Gujarat has implemented certain policies designed to uplift those belonging to the Scheduled Castes into higher positions which includes reservations. In the state, 7% of seats are served for Dalits in Education and government job sectors. However, even this implementation Dalits are continued to be discriminated against across the state.
