Surekha Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, her daughter Priyanka and sons Sudhir and Roshan were murdered on September 29, 2006m over a land dispute. Surekha's husband and the only surviving member of the family, Bhaiyalal, managed to escape. The four were mercilessly beaten to death and their bodies thrown into a canal in Khairlanji village, about 60 km near Nagpur, the prosecution had said.
46 persons were arrested in connection with the killings of Surekha Bhotmange and her three children Priyanka, Sudhir and Roshan. Of them 25 are on bail.
Bhotmange's wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka, sons Sudhir and Rohan were killed by a village mob on September 29 over a property dispute. His house was also partially damaged. The incident had evoked violent protests amongst the Dalit community.
The incident took place on January 15 and a formal complaint was lodged by Gajbhiye with Andhalgaon police station in the neighbouring Bhandara district, on Saturday.
Six persons accused of killing four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village, Maharashtra, were awarded the death sentence on Wednesday.
Siddharth Gajbhiye, a relative of the victims, was a police patil, a civil appointee in villages who liaises with the local police and revenue department and was paid honorarium by the government.
The counsel of the agency, investigating the September 28 killing of four members of the Bhotmange family, moved an application in this regard before the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) P Y Ladekar at Mohadi.
The much awaited verdict on the 2006 Khairlanji Dalit massacre case was deferred by a month by the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday, as one of Judges was pre-occupied with an assignment.
The institute, in a report, also described the September 29 killings of four Dalits of a family, including two women, at Khairlanji in Bhandara district as an 'organised conspiracy'.
Dalit leaders, including Prakash Ambedkar, Jogendra Kawade, Sulekha Kumbhare and Rajendra Gavai were scheduled to take part in the protest rally.
The fate of 11 accused involved in the killings of four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji, would be decided by a local court in Bhandara on September 15.
The 15-page chargesheet has been filed in a court in Bhandara in Maharashtra.
'There is no other method to correct such a deep-seated cultural prejudice against Dalits than shock treatment,' feels Dalit intellectual- activist Dr Anand Teltumbde, author of Khairlanji: A Strange And Bitter Crop.
Six policemen were injured as a group of Dalits allegedly indulged in arson and violence in Kamptee near Nagpur, prompting police to clamp indefinite curfew on Tuesday.
'If you look at the entire protest on April 2, you will find it was not only about the Atrocities Act dilution, but the accumulated anger of the Dalit community against the BJP over the last four years.'
The Dalit anger may influence the January municipal corporation polls in 14 cities and 27 district councils elections.
Sub Inspector Siddheshwar Bharne attached to the Aandhalgaon Police Station was already under suspension on charges of dereliction of duty.
The 35 accused include then police sub-inspector Siddheshwar Bharne, the police station officer of Andhalgaon who was responsible for the area where the killings occurred.
Though Dalit organisations have not announced any formal protest in Mumbai but their annual convergence on December 6 has become a cause for concern in the wake of recent violence that rocked the state.
One person was killed in police firing during a clash with stone-pelting Dalit activists who were enforcing a shutdown in Amravati district of Maharashtra on Tuesday, police said.
'Whenever Dalits have agitated on the streets, the government has blamed Naxalites.'
The July 11 blasts as also the September 8 Malegaon explosions highlighted the continued threat of terrorism in the state.
An image of Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Mumbai.
'The Constitution, which talks about democracy and equality, is something that will be applied in this country, and not Manusmriti in which the RSS believes.'
'Muslims and Dalits must erase the way they remember their past, or carry out their their performances in private,' says Jyoti Punwani, as Maharashtra's Censor Board denies permission to a play Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat.
'I cannot conceive of any reason than my unsparing criticism of government policies that the government picked me to send a message to many who dare to take it on.'
'One can understand this prejudice in the minds of policemen against Muslims, without accepting it. But what tilts the balance disproportionately is the police's blind eye to offences committed in the name of the majority.' says Jyoti Punwani.
