Pune: On March 13, the jaat panchayat (caste council) of the Bhil tribe in Nilanga taluka in Maharashtra’s Latur district allegedly ordered a woman to have sex with a panch (judge) when she and her husband expressed their inability to pay a Rs 50,000 fine demanded by the panchayat.
When the wife questioned how a man her father’s age can make such demands, the panch allegedly ordered a crowd to remove her sari to check “whether she was female or not”.
Savita Kambale and Gajanan Kambale (names changed; aged 24 and 27, respectively), both hail from the Bhil community (a Scheduled Tribe). They, along with their two children, have not gone back to their hamlet after the incident. They have been moving from village to village, sleeping at temples and schools.
On March 18, they returned and went to the local police station to check the status of the complaint they had made on March 14.་
When this reporter met them, Savita,་looking dishevelled, was sitting on a platform at the Nilanga police station with Gajanan and their children. The couple looked shaken.
Savita narrated the incident, saying, “Rohit (name changed), my brother-in-law, is married to the daughter of Laxman Vibhute, a panch for the last ten years. The couple has five kids but Laxman took his daughter back three years ago as Rohit became a drunkard. They left five kids with Rohit. Now, his wife wants the kids back and they asked us to return them. That is why they arranged a panchayat and asked us to pay Rs 50,000.”
Also read | 18 Years On, Memories of Jharkhand’s Adivasi Anti-Dam Struggle Endure
She added, “We told them that we are no longer responsible for Rohit and they can do whatever they want. But the panch was not ready to listen and asked us to pay the fine, which we refused. Then Dashrath Vibhute, another panch, told my husband that if we cannot pay the fine, I should be sent to sleep with him. When I interrupted by asking why he was uttering such nonsense even though I am like a daughter to him, Dashrath Vibhute complained that I was retorting despite being a woman. He ordered the crowd to remove my sari to check whether I am a woman or not. His son, heckled me as well.”
Savita, unable to stem her tears while narrating the incident, went on, “I had saved the number of Madhav Bagwe of the Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti earlier. I contacted him the next day. With his help, we gave a letter of complaint to the district collector.”
“The panch has been threatening us since we contacted social activists and the collector. They questioned how long the outsiders would help us and finally, we had to go to the community to stay. The panch ordered community members to boycott us,” said Gajanan.
In the meantime, Savita has tried to commit suicide on two occasions. Gajanan, who has been counselling her, said, “I told her that if we have to die anyway, we will fight first. We are scared to go back home. Our kids, who are good at studies, have not gone to school for the last four days.”
G. Srikant, collector, Latur, said, “We would lodge an FIR if the victim’s family wants to do it. But our priority is to counsel the community into accepting the family. Because even if we rehabilitate them somewhere else, they would face difficulties in adjusting. If the community does not accept the family or starts threatening them, only then would we rehabilitate them elsewhere.”
At Bhill Vasti in Nilanga, most houses are huts – barring a couple made of tin. A few families stay in cloth-made huts. Almost all of them sell jewellery and craft items like combs. The hamlet has 74 families and a population of over 300.
Laxman Vibhute, a panch, wearing a traditional turban and kurta, met a social activist and this reporter. Women, men and children gathered near the community hall and spoke in whispers. Their poverty was visible. The local activist said that, barring three or four youth, everybody in the hamlet is illiterate; both men and women work but waste their money on alcohol and other pursuits. Vibhute denied holding a jaat panchayat or boycotting any family.
He said, “I am concerned about my community and I help them get houses under gharkul-like schemes. We have stopped conducting jaat panchayats many years ago.”
Also read | What Adivasis of Odisha Could Teach Urban Indians in the Age of #Metoo
Dashrath Vibhute, the panch who allegedly told Savita to remove her sari, is a moneylender. He too completely denied any such incident had happened. “How can I say such a thing to a girl like my daughter?”
Madhav Bavage, chief of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS) Latur unit, said, “They hold the jaat panchayat regularly and we have video footage of the jaat panchayat held last year. The couple which has been boycotted has been going through immense pressure. We are trying to lodge an FIR against the panch.”
Bagve added, “Once the jaat panchayat boycotts a family, no community member talks to them… Their lives become hell.”
One activist, on the condition of anonymity, said that Dashrath Vibhute has not been arrested because he is close to local political party leaders.
Anil Thorwale, inspector, Nilanga police station, said, “I have taken the complaint and will investigate the case. If I find evidence, I will lodge an FIR.”
