Incident: Killing of an Ambedkarite Buddhist Youth for celebrating Dr Ambedkar Jayanti (birth anniversary) in his village
Incident Date: 1st June 2023
Incident Place: Bondhar Haveli village, Nanded, Maharashtra, India
(Samaj Weekly)- Every single public event hosted by any social or political organization in Maharashtra is not completed without citing Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and yet an Ambedkarite Buddhist youth, Akshay Bhalerao was brutally murdered for celebrating Dr Ambedkar Jayanti in the village Bondhar, Nanded, Maharashtra by dominant caste goons. Caste Atrocities are common in such villages where the Scheduled Castes and Buddhists are daily humiliated, mocked, or abused with caste slurs and women subjected to sexual violence. Moreover, the incidents of caste atrocities are not limited to this remote village, but we have witnessed the same in Mumbai, the Capital of Maharashtra, Akash Jadhav in 2021, Dr. Payal Tadvi in 2019, or Bhima Koregaon in 2018, Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, charged under the IPC and the Atrocities Act for the violence are not arrested.
The conviction in case of Prevention of Atrocities Act is less than 10%, and there is no monitoring committee meeting called either by Chief Minister or by Social Justice Minister. Rule 16 states that state government “shall constitute a high power vigilance and monitoring committee”. The State has the greater responsibility to monitor implementation of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. No High Power Monitoring Committee, No Contingency Plan, No Exclusive Special Courts, No Exclusive Special Public Prosecutors, No Legal Aid, No timely compensations, is the sorry state of affairs in implementing the Act.
As the Chief Minister and Social Justice Minister makes tall claim that ‘A Rikshawala can become Chief Minister, because of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution’ and yet an Ambedkarite Buddhist Youth is ruthlessly murdered for celebrating Dr Ambedkar Jayanti.
We, the Global Ambedkarites based in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Middle East, Japan and around the world are in a deep shock and we strongly condemn this barbaric incident. We call upon the government to take immediate steps to stop the atrocities and sanction following demands to address this issue:
1. Declare the village as Atrocity Prone Area, and setup special police force team for next 2 years in the village to protect the impacted families. Set up a Police Check Post in the village. Extern the dominant caste goons for a period of at least 3 years.
2. Setup a team that does survey of entire Maharashtra State to find such Prone areas.
3. Constitute a High Power Monitoring Committee and invite a meeting immediately.
4. Establish Exclusive Special Courts in the State of Maharashtra, and not designated courts. These Courts should expedite all the pending atrocity cases filed in Maharashtra.
5. In this case, immediately provide special public prosecutor and trial in an exclusive special court.
6. Declare immediately that Chief Minister to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti in the village Bondhar, Nanded.
