Aug 20 2007
India’s Dalits: between atrocity and protest
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“….members of one dalit family was slaughtered on 29th September 29th, 2006 in bhandara district.”
By Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, published in openDemocracy
8/20/07
Surekha Bhotmange, a Dalit (or so-called “untouchable”) member of the Hindu caste system in Maharashtra, was cooking the family evening meal on 29 September 2006 when a group of upper-caste men surrounded her home. Surekha, her 17-year-old daughter Priyanka, and two sons, 23-year-old Roshan and 21-year-old Sudhir, were dragged out of the hut. The two women were stripped, beaten and paraded through the village. The young men were beaten up so badly their faces were disfigured. All four died. Almost all of Khairlanji village witnessed this spectacle of caste vengeance. No one did much to stop it.