Scared Dalit family flees Una village

Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, September 6

The first fallout of the Una Dalit flogging has been reported from the neighbouring Samter village in Gir-Somnath district in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat as a Dalit family was forced to migrate from the village due to alleged threats from the families of cow vigilantes.

Raju Parmar, 50, has migrated from Samter to another village in the neighbouring Junagadh district along with his wife and three sons, selling off his pair of buffaloes and an auto spare parts shop. He, however, has not sold his house hoping to return one day when the things become normal.

Raju is among the 40 Dalits who had attempted suicide by consuming poison during demonstrations to protest against the flogging of the four Dalit youths by the self-styled cow vigilantes in Mota Samadhiyala village on July 11. He had survived the bid but got into the eyes of the upper caste cow vigilantes. Raju claimed that since his return from the hospital, he had been receiving repeated threats.

He sought police protection. “But how long can we live with the police,” he asked. Finally, they decided to migrate. “We can come back to our ancestral home once the situation improves,” he said.

Samter village had earned notoriety during the post-flogging days. The police inquiry revealed that the entire flogging episode had its epicenter in Samter village from where most of the cow vigilantes rushed to Mota Samadhiyala village when the youths were skinning a dead cow. At least 14 of the 39 accused in the flogging incident belonged to Samter.