Dalit killed for digging own well (Hindustan Times)
"Ghatge (48), a Dalit farmer and a father of three, retired from the Railways a few years ago and moved home from Mumbai to farm on his family’s 5-acre plot here. He was murdered last week by upper-caste villagers who did not want him to dig a well on his own property.
"It would have been the first well in Kulakjai village on land owned by a Dalit.
"The police said Ghatge was hacked so violently that even the earth-moving machine he was using at the time was damaged.
"'They were armed with axes and iron rods. They attacked him and left him to bleed to death,' said Ghatge’s 21-year-old son Tushar, a law student at a local college.
"Ten people have been arrested and charged under the Atrocities Act and special police teams deployed. 'They said his well would mean less water for the common well in the village,' said Tushar.
"Ghatge tried to reason, saying he had acquired permission from the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti and had promised to share the water in times of scarcity, but the crowd grew menacing."
See also:
Kulakjai Dalit Murder Report by Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK), a Bombay-based voluntary organization (May 10, 2007):
"[W]e understand that wells in drought-prone areas are of utmost importance, and hence control of wells is also a symbol of power since these water sources function as on of the most important means of life and livelihood. It is also at times a more important means of production than the land. By deciding to dig a well [the Ghatge family] had challenged – indirectly - the monopoly of upper castes over water which stings them the most."
And see:
All's Well, Did You Say? (Outlook India, August 20, 2007):
"Twelve attackers were arrested, but they are all now out on bail. Later, a supplementary FIR named political heavyweights, all upper-caste men, as the masterminds behind the attack. But, as usual, but little has come of it."
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