Sinking in a deep sea

A heart-touching news took away my sleep last night when I saw in the news that an old couple, Pandu Hembram and Parbati Hembram, of Scheduled Tribes Vill. Noapara, Sainthia PS under the district of Birbhum were brutally killed by the villagers alleging them that they are ‘DAINY’ i.e., witch. The incident occurred in the state of West Bengal immediately before the visit of the Hon’ble President of India who also belongs to a Schedule Tribe community. It is also learnt that the Hon’ble President of India is scheduled to visit the district where such barbaric act and an organized crime took place on March 25. It is not only shameful to the inhabitants of the state, but such acts and deeds of some people raised question also how back we are even today in securing social justice to our fellow citizens belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Reportedly, Pandu Hembram (62) and his wife Parbati Hembram (52) were forcefully taken to the village’s Salishi Sabha on the allegation that they were demon and witch and a misfortune for the entire village and the villagers. At the Salishi Sabha, they were mercilessly beaten up and Parbati Hembram being unable to sustain such torture had died at the spot. With severe injury all over the body, Pandu Hembram laid there with pain and sufferings and he was rescued after several hours, and was taken to Bolpur Hospital where he was declared dead. Attempt was also made to burn their bodies but it was not possible due to protest of the local people of Burning Ghat area and deceased relatives.

Many questions are centred around the said incident. Is it the real land of Swami Vivekananda or is it that district of Birbhum where Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his whole life not only in the field of cultural enrichment but to the education of the unprivileged persons also? In every village of the state, there is a Panchyat Member who is responsible to see as People’s Representative whether any social injustice is done with any person within his area. Where he was when the incident occurred?

Distance between the Vill. Noapara and Sainthia PS is about 9 km. Why the local police station did not receive any information about this barbaric act and organized crime when such incident started to begin? Why Bolpur Sub-divisional Hospital did not inform the police immediately when the victims were brought? To whom dead bodies were handed over for cremation at the Burning Ghat? There are lots of “Why” but answer is blowing in the wind. Is it a fear to the govt. officials or negligence, or shall it be termed as part of mal-administration lowering down the cultural heritage and the state administration? No word is sufficient to condemn this barbaric act for such organized crime in the age of electronic gazettes.

FIR was lodged on March 26, and the scribe is reported to be a person named Ujjal Bhattacharya. There is no mention in the FIR that it is a case of “witch hunting”. The cryptic FIR says about murder of two persons only. In every district, there is a designated officer who is Scheduled Tribe and responsible for seeing that no atrocity is caused to any member of Scheduled Tribe. Why complaint was written by a non-Scheduled Tribe person? The answer is unknown. The Calcutta High Court in writ petition no. 27093 (W) of 2015 issued several guidelines following the judgement of the Apex Court passed in Gaurav Jain Vs. State of Bihar and Ors., reported in 1991 Supp (2) SCC 133, but none of the guidelines have been followed in this case.

The people of India adopted, enacted and gave the Constitution of India to themselves with a promise to secure dignity of the individual for unity and integrity of the nation. In our Constitutional scheme, no discrimination is entertained in the name of caste, class, religion and sex, and it is believed that every Indian is our own brother and sister. The brutal murder of two tribal persons sounds as death of our own brother and sister, but we are reluctant to condemn this barbaric act which, again, questions our living existence.

‘Witch hunting’ is not approved by our society as it is a heinous crime. At the same time, suppressing of actual state of affairs is also a crime as the person responsible for such suppression of fact is a betrayer to the Constitution of India.

Our ignorance and silence allowed our co-citizens to carry human excreta on their head during the time of 1950-1992 till the Parliament prohibited the same by enacting a law to that effect. Although, all fundamental rights disapproving such inhuman practice remained in force in our Constitution during that period. We never thought that our co-citizens, being members of unprivileged classes, were compelled to carry human excreta on their head, which is contrary to our Constitutional philosophy, and we were accustomed to see all these inhuman acts as silent spectators from 1950 to 1992.

How long we have to see the killings of our co-citizens in the name of ‘Witch hunting’? It may be a fact that our administration is still in an adolescence period, and has not attended maturity to prevent such inhuman and barbaric practice in and around us to ensure social justice for all.

Views expressed are personal