New Delhi: The festival of Holi has left behind a trail of caste tension in parts of Uttar Pradesh. At least three incidents of violence and arson targeted at Dalits and most backward communities were reported on the day of the festival. In Mathura, a dispute over the throwing of colour led to a violent clash between members of the Jatav (Dalit) and Thakur communities, leading to criminal cases lodged by both sides. A total of 74 persons were booked in the two First Information Reports.
In Farrukhabad, half-a-dozen Dalits were injured after three men from the Kurmi (Other Backward Class or OBC) community allegedly fired at them with a country-made pistol while they were on their way to celebrate Holi. In Sant Kabir Nagar, at least 20 huts belonging to Rajbhars (OBC) were allegedly torched by a group of men belonging to the Brahmin community after an altercation broke out over the playing of DJ music on Holi.
In Mathura, a criminal case was lodged against 32 persons belonging to the Jatav community for attempted murder and other charges for allegedly assaulting around half-a-dozen men from “upper castes,” especially Thakurs on March 14. The incident allegedly took place in a Jatav locality in Bati village. Rahul, the complainant in the case, alleged that on Holi, around noon, he along with a bunch of others, was going to a friend’s house to celebrate the festival when while passing by a Jatav locality a group of Jatavs attacked them with iron rods, wooden sticks and spears, and also pelted stones and bricks at them. They came from behind and attacked with the intent to kill, alleged Rahul, adding that some of them were injured.
Mathura police said they arrested nine persons in the case. However, several days after Holi, on March 21, another FIR was lodged in the matter, this time against members of the Thakur community. The FIR was registered against 42 persons on the complaint of a Dalit woman, who alleged that Thakurs of the village assaulted Dalit women and children, hurled casteist abuses at them and molested the women. Relevant sections of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked.
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Manoj, the wife of Krishna Kumar, one of the 32 accused in the first FIR, alleged that on March 14 around 10 am, her husband along with two others was applying the Holi milan tilak at a girl’s school in the village. Some Thakur men appeared on the scene and the Dalit men started applying gulal colour on them, said Manoj. She said the Thakur men reacted angrily and hurled casteist abuses. “You low castes, you will apply gulal on us,” Manoj said, quoting an alleged casteist comment.
After the Dalit men opposed the casteist abuse, an altercation took place but things settled for the moment. Later, however, a much larger group of Thakur men barged into Dalit homes and thrashed women and children with sticks and rods, alleged Manoj. “They pulled us out of our homes,” said Manoj, alleging that the Thakur men molested them and tore the clothes of at least five Dalit women. They also threatened to set Dalit houses on fire.
In Farrukhabad, a man from the Kurmi community, Jitendra Katiyar and his two sons Shivam and Som were booked for attempted murder for allegedly firing at a group of Dalits. Anil Kumar, a resident of Bibipur village, said that on March 14 at around 3 pm, Katiyar came to his door in a drunken state and started hurling abuses. When Anil protested, Katiyar called his sons who allegedly abused Anil and his family using casteist and sexist slurs. “If you… are seen in our ‘akhat’ (Holi celebrations), we will kill you,’ they threatened us and went away,” said Anil Kumar.
He alleged that then around 6 pm, he along with his nephews Rajeev, Prabhat and another female, and three others, were going to celebrate Holi when Katiyar and his sons fired at them with a country-made pistol. Anil Kumar, who claimed to have witnessed the shooting from 15 to 20 metres away, said that six persons were injured in the incident.
Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) chief and Bijnor MP Chandra Shekhar Aazad criticised the Adityanath government over the incident and asked if there was a “free license to kill Dalits in Uttar Pradesh.”
In another incident on Holi, around 20 huts belonging to the Rajbhar community in village Kari in Sant Kabir Nagar, adjoining Gorakhpur, were set on fire after a dispute broke out over the playing of DJ music. Surendra Rajbhar said that some kids were dancing to the music played on a small DJ near one Anil’s house when some members of the Brahmin community, identified as Ratnesh Tiwari, Rakesh Tiwari, Ashok Tiwari and Golu, came and asked them to change the song. They wanted some other song but the kids refused, said Surendra. An altercation took place but both sides went home.
At 3 pm, however, Rajbhar alleged that the men arrived with sticks and abused him and Anil near a transformer trijunction in the village. Surendra said that the men started hitting and abused them and set on fire a shed meant for animals on the roof of a hut. One Santram, Anil, a girl Sukanya and Surendra were injured, said the FIR.
Police said they had arrested Golu, Ratnesh Tiwari and Ashok Tiwari for arson and assault.
