Forgive me. For, I too am a scribe
The wound a story gifted me refuses to heal. My solitudes, my attempts to sleep, my efforts at being happy are being ruined by this story. A story that has given me the tightest slap on my face for being a man. A story that has ridiculed me for being a journalist.
This is the story of Khelranji, which the mainstream media closed its eyes on. The story broke many a heart, but failed to tickle any editor’s or scribe’s conscience. Sad.
A rural hamlet some 50-km north of Bhandara town, off Tumsar road in Maharashtra, saw September 29 dawn as usual, but ended up weeping by night. Four hapless members of a Dalit family were massacred and the women among them were gang raped and abused in the most heinous manner on that fateful day. And yet, the mainstream media did not know. Why should they, right? When they have Bipasha’s cleavage and Hrithik’s biceps to expose.
A village, home to around 780 people, is where the Dalit Buddhist family of Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, his wife Surekha, (44), his daughter Priyanka (18) and sons, Roshan (23) and Sudhir (21) too lived. Upper caste Hindu landlords wield power here. Undisputed land lords, these criminals in the guise of humans scooped down on the Dalit family of Bhotmange with the rest of the village watching.
A Tehelka story (thankfully we have such proactive magazines in a land of rags that just gag), which is your truly’s source too as far as this story is concerned, gave details of what happened. It read somewhat like this.
Surekha Bhotmange, and her husband Bhaiyyalal, who eked out their living through farming in a small piece of land see their land being marked by the upper caste men for forcible take over. The worried Bhotmanges decide to protest and find support from another dalit, Siddharth Gajbhaiye.
Smitten, the criminals begin spreading rumors of an illicit relationship between Surekha and Gajbhaiye. The agenda is obvious - malign the family and drive them away. The trouble refuses to end there. A mob beats up Gajbhaiye black and blue. Gajbhaiye files a police complaint and the police arrest 12 criminals. Surekha signs on the FIR as one of the witnesses and identifies the 12 in a police parade.
The upper caste men decide to strike back. Come September 29, the day 12 men are released on bail. Angered and insulted, the men head for the Bhotmanges’ hut. Unable to find Bhaiyyalal, they drag out Surekha, Priyanka, Roshan and Sudhir. The whole of the village is summoned to witness the crime.
Hell follows. Surekha and Priyanka are stripped, paraded naked. Hooligans among the men folk begin beating them with bicycle chains. And in full view the mute public, they are gang raped and massacred. The anger still burns inside the criminals. They pick the lifeless bodies of the women and rape them again. Some among them pick whatever they could lay their hands on and shove them into their genitals.
One woman among the crowd, unable to bear the scene, protest wailing all the while. She is silenced with a heavy slap on her face.
The boys, Sudhir and Roshan, are the next targets. They are beaten up, killed, genitals mutilated, faces disfigured and thrown away.
A police party arrives much after the incident, but return failing to record a statement. Even the woman who protested is afraid to open her mouth. Photographs of mutilated bodies with rods in the genitals of the women are clicked by a police patrol team that arrives at the scene later on. A post mortem done on the bodies say no rape has happened.
A regional farmers’ association garners the guts to stand up and protest. This finally, sees that as many as 38 men from Kherlanji are behind bars.
Shocking, indeed! More shocking for me is the fact that the incident failed to get news space. With the media’s roving eyes zeroing on that nudge an Aussie cricketer manages just above Pawar’s butt, the kiss-sob-no-kiss tale of Abhi-Ash, Angelina Jolie and her stupid bouncer and such inane tales that make you pray for something better. Kherlanji’s Surekha, Priyanka, Rohan and Sudhir are just boring stuff. Why waste valuable newsprint and air space when you have bytes from Ash and Mallika and even the ridiculously ridiculous Mandira to liven up dumb minds. For the dumb, from the dumbest, that is what our mainstream media seem to be about.
Well, may be I’m dumb, for I don’t believe the Pawar nudge is news. May be I’m dumb, for Surekha and Priyanka still weep inside me.
The wound a story gifted me refuses to heal. My solitudes, my attempts to sleep, my efforts at being happy are being ruined by this story. A story that has given me the tightest slap on my face for being a man. A story that has ridiculed me for being a journalist.
This is the story of Khelranji, which the mainstream media closed its eyes on. The story broke many a heart, but failed to tickle any editor’s or scribe’s conscience. Sad.
A rural hamlet some 50-km north of Bhandara town, off Tumsar road in Maharashtra, saw September 29 dawn as usual, but ended up weeping by night. Four hapless members of a Dalit family were massacred and the women among them were gang raped and abused in the most heinous manner on that fateful day. And yet, the mainstream media did not know. Why should they, right? When they have Bipasha’s cleavage and Hrithik’s biceps to expose.
A village, home to around 780 people, is where the Dalit Buddhist family of Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, his wife Surekha, (44), his daughter Priyanka (18) and sons, Roshan (23) and Sudhir (21) too lived. Upper caste Hindu landlords wield power here. Undisputed land lords, these criminals in the guise of humans scooped down on the Dalit family of Bhotmange with the rest of the village watching.
A Tehelka story (thankfully we have such proactive magazines in a land of rags that just gag), which is your truly’s source too as far as this story is concerned, gave details of what happened. It read somewhat like this.
Surekha Bhotmange, and her husband Bhaiyyalal, who eked out their living through farming in a small piece of land see their land being marked by the upper caste men for forcible take over. The worried Bhotmanges decide to protest and find support from another dalit, Siddharth Gajbhaiye.
Smitten, the criminals begin spreading rumors of an illicit relationship between Surekha and Gajbhaiye. The agenda is obvious - malign the family and drive them away. The trouble refuses to end there. A mob beats up Gajbhaiye black and blue. Gajbhaiye files a police complaint and the police arrest 12 criminals. Surekha signs on the FIR as one of the witnesses and identifies the 12 in a police parade.
The upper caste men decide to strike back. Come September 29, the day 12 men are released on bail. Angered and insulted, the men head for the Bhotmanges’ hut. Unable to find Bhaiyyalal, they drag out Surekha, Priyanka, Roshan and Sudhir. The whole of the village is summoned to witness the crime.
Hell follows. Surekha and Priyanka are stripped, paraded naked. Hooligans among the men folk begin beating them with bicycle chains. And in full view the mute public, they are gang raped and massacred. The anger still burns inside the criminals. They pick the lifeless bodies of the women and rape them again. Some among them pick whatever they could lay their hands on and shove them into their genitals.
One woman among the crowd, unable to bear the scene, protest wailing all the while. She is silenced with a heavy slap on her face.
The boys, Sudhir and Roshan, are the next targets. They are beaten up, killed, genitals mutilated, faces disfigured and thrown away.
A police party arrives much after the incident, but return failing to record a statement. Even the woman who protested is afraid to open her mouth. Photographs of mutilated bodies with rods in the genitals of the women are clicked by a police patrol team that arrives at the scene later on. A post mortem done on the bodies say no rape has happened.
A regional farmers’ association garners the guts to stand up and protest. This finally, sees that as many as 38 men from Kherlanji are behind bars.
Shocking, indeed! More shocking for me is the fact that the incident failed to get news space. With the media’s roving eyes zeroing on that nudge an Aussie cricketer manages just above Pawar’s butt, the kiss-sob-no-kiss tale of Abhi-Ash, Angelina Jolie and her stupid bouncer and such inane tales that make you pray for something better. Kherlanji’s Surekha, Priyanka, Rohan and Sudhir are just boring stuff. Why waste valuable newsprint and air space when you have bytes from Ash and Mallika and even the ridiculously ridiculous Mandira to liven up dumb minds. For the dumb, from the dumbest, that is what our mainstream media seem to be about.
Well, may be I’m dumb, for I don’t believe the Pawar nudge is news. May be I’m dumb, for Surekha and Priyanka still weep inside me.
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