Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: A young Dalit woman’s refusal to withdraw a sexual harassment complaint against four influential men in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district in 2019 has brought devastating consequences to her and her family.
More than nine months after her 18-year-old brother Nitin was lynched in daylight and her mother disrobed and thrashed allegedly by those threatening her to withdraw the sexual harassment case, the woman’s uncle was murdered on Saturday (May 25).
The uncle, Rajendra Ahirwar (28), was a witness in her brother’s murder case.
A day later, on May 26, the woman also died under suspicious circumstances after she allegedly fell out of an ambulance (hearse) that was carrying her uncle’s body back to their village following a post-mortem at a hospital.
How she died – whether she was murdered, fell off accidently or took her own life – is unclear and is being probed by police.
However, the murky chain of events culminated in a tragic end to the 21-year-old BA student’s struggle against those who sexually harassed her in 2019 and since then had been allegedly putting pressure on her and her family to withdraw the case.
“Hum bachenge nahi [We won’t survive],” Sapna (name changed), the woman, had told The Wire in November 2023, expressing fear that if the BJP came back to power in the state, she and her family would face backlash from the accused persons.
“How can Dalits get justice in the BJP government? Look at the injustice we have faced. An elderly woman was disrobed and beaten, but no FIR was registered. On the contrary, false cases were lodged against us,” she said on November 7, 2023 when this reporter visited her village.
The family alleged that among those who sexually harassed her and murdered Nitin were those directly linked to the ruling BJP.
On May 25, Sapna’s uncle Rajendra was attacked with lathis and axes by five persons at one Pappu Rajak’s house at around 8:45 pm, said the FIR seen by The Wire.
He was rushed to a local hospital in Khurai but succumbed to his injuries on the way to a better hospital outside the town.
The FIR lodged at the Khurai Rural police station on the morning of May 26 on a written complaint by Rajendra’s father named five persons as accused of murder, rioting and relevant clauses of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention) Act.
The accused were identified as Ashiq Qureshi, Bablu Bena, Israil Bena, Faheem Khan and Tantu Qureshi.
One person has been arrested, sources said, but the police are yet to issue a detailed statement.
According to the victim’s family and Dalit activists in Sagar, they are relatives of the 13 persons accused of murdering Sapna’s brother last year.
Constables on duty at Sapna (right)’s house. Photo: Omar Rashid.
Jitu Patwari, the Congress’s Madhya Pradesh president and who visited the family on May 28, said the accused were putting pressure on Rajendra to settle the murder case.
Lokesh Sinha, SP City (Sagar), told reporters that one person (Rajendra) died after an incident of “maar peet” – or assault – over a dispute. A murder case was lodged and the matter is being investigated, he said.
When Rajendra’s body was being taken from Sagar to his native village in a hearse after a post-mortem was conducted, Sapna allegedly fell off from the vehicle near the Khurai bypass and died of her injuries.
Her family refuses to believe that she may have deliberately jumped off from the vehicle.
Her elder brother Karan (named changed) alleged that his sister and uncle were murdered by those accused in the sexual harassment and murder cases of 2019 and 2023.
“Do you think that a girl who was fighting hard for over two years, was so sharp and was a support system for others, would try to kill herself like this? First, they murdered my younger brother in daylight. Then my uncle, and now my sister. Now it’s just us three that remain here – me, my sister and mother. We feel unsafe,” Karan told The Wire.
When this reporter last met Sapna, she was determined to take the legal battle to the logical conclusion.
Police officer Sinha said that apart from Sapna, only the driver and Rajendra’s relatives were in the hearse when the incident happened.
“She died after falling off from the four-wheeler vehicle. It is being investigated under which circumstances the incident took place,” said the officer.
The police were also collecting evidence to ascertain if Rajendra’s murder was linked to the accused persons putting pressure on the victim’s side for a compromise, he added.
Dharmendra Ahirwar, a Dalit activist who contested the 2023 assembly election, said that Rajendra’s relatives who were in the hearse at the time of the incident reported that Sapna jumped off from the running vehicle on her own. Whether it was out of fright or misjudgement – as the vehicle was running at a slow speed – is not clear, said Ahirwar.
We cannot independently verify this.
Stitch marks on Sapna’s mother’s arm after her injury. Photo: Omar Rashid.
Karan demanded that a CBI probe be conducted into the three deaths/murders.
“The politicians and police in Sagar are hatching a conspiracy, committing atrocities against Dalits and if anyone raises their voice, they crush them. Dalits are being harassed but their FIRs are not being lodged. They are being raped and murdered, but there is no justice and the accused are going scot-free,” said Karan.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh visited the victim’s family and raised questions on the way the BJP government had handled the case.
Singh asked why the state government withdrew the police protection they had provided the family ten days prior to the murder of Rajendra, who along with Sapna and her mother, was among the three witnesses to Nitin’s murder.
He said Sapna had recently reported to police that she was being pressured to change her statement. A main accused person, Ankit Singh, who is allegedly a relative of influential BJP MLA Bhupendra Singh, a former minister and MP, was not arrested by police despite Sapna naming him in her complaint due to “political patronage,” Singh also said.
Congress leader Arun Yadav had in August 2023 shared a letter on social media which said that one of the accused men, Komal Singh Thakur, was a nominated representative of the then-BJP minister Bhupendra Singh, who held the urban development and housing portfolio in the outgoing government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Komal Singh was also the husband of the head of the gram panchayat where this incident took place.
The four persons Sapna named in the FIR were identified as Azad Thakur, Vishal, Pushpendra and Chotu alias Vikash.
Karan said the police protection outside their house was removed without “any notice”.
“My mother is in complete shock and in a bad state. She lost her young daughter and her son was murdered in front of her eyes,” said Karan, demanding that Ankit Singh’s name be included in the FIR lodged by his sister.
He also alleged that the accused persons kidnapped Rajendra before assaulting him.
“They picked him up. Why would he go there to them? He was a witness in Nitin’s murder case. He was to record his statement next month. But they have been putting pressure on him to record a favourable statement,” said Karan.
Moments before Karan spoke to The Wire, he spoke to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the phone. Gandhi assured him of all support and promised to visit Sagar in a couple of days.
While Sapna had lodged a sexual harassment complaint in 2019, a new streak of tragedy unfolded for her on August 24, 2023 when three people, Komal Singh Thakur, Azad Thakur and Bikram Thakur, barged into her house and threatened her and her mother with dire consequences if she did not withdraw the case.
Sapna had then alleged that the accused persons, linked to the ruling party minister, had been putting pressure on her to compromise.
Also read: Manoj Mitta on Why Caste-Based Violence Continues With Impunity in India
After threatening the mother and daughter, the accused men intercepted Sapna’s brother Nitin, who was returning from the market, and allegedly thrashed him brutally.
“We kept screaming and pleading but they beat my brother to death in front of us,” Sapna told The Wire last year. She alleged that the accused men not only thrashed her mother and disrobed her, but they also threatened to rape her if she complained against them.
The accused men also vandalised their house.
Police had later arrested 13 persons for Nitin’s murder. These were, Vikram Thakur, Vijay Thakur, Azad Thakur, Komal Thakur, Lalu Khan, Islam Khan, Golu Soni, Nafees Khan, Wahid Khan, Arbaaj Khan, Golu Bena alias Fareem, Aneesh Bena and Abhishek Raikwar. They are in jail.
In a post about the incident on X (formerly Twitter), Rahul Gandhi said: “Narendra Modi has ended the rule of law. Just thinking about what the BJP leaders have done to this Dalit family in Madhya Pradesh fills my heart with pain and anger. It is a matter of shame that under the BJP rule, the government is always found standing with the culprits instead of the victimised women.
“Such incidents break the courage of every person who has no other way to seek justice except the law.”
Accusing Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav of inaction, Patwari, the Congress’s state president, said the Sagar incident had tarnished the state’s image.
Patwari said the Dalit family was “destroyed as part of a well-thought conspiracy” and promised to fight a legal battle to ensure that the case was probed by the CBI.
Chandra Shekhar Aazad, president of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram), said it appears that the accused persons have the “protection of the government.” He demanded a probe by the CBI under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
Aazad said he will visit the family soon to offer them his support.