People's Democracy

ON August 25, the Dainik Jagran, a Hindi daily, ran a horror story on its front page: a young Dalit woman, Maya Gautam, was stripped and beaten in the Nawabganj thana of Kanpur. Seema Katiyar and Pushpa Pandey, respectively the district secretary and district committee member of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), immediately rushed to the thana. But they were not allowed to meet Maya. Another activist, Sheela, was able to meet her when she was brought back after the medical examination. Sheela was able to verify the details of the incident from her.

Maya belongs to Tirwa in district Kannauj. Her husband abandoned her several years ago, leaving her with 3 infants. Later on she was ‘married’ off to her own brother-in-law who is many years older than her and visits her very rarely. About a month ago, she came to live in Kanpur with her mother and children. Her sister also lives here with her family. Maya found a vacant place, made a small hut and started living there. On August 24 afternoon, a rickshaw-owner, Udaybhan, came and asked her to vacate her hut and move elsewhere as he wanted to park his rickshaws on that plot. When she refused to move, he threatened her with dire consequences and went away. He was soon back with a few other men and started hitting her relative, Narendra, who was there, accusing them of having stolen his rickshaw. Soon the police arrived and took Narendra away. Then they returned and took Maya to the Nawabganj police station. Here she found the police beating Narendra and torturing him by pouring cold water down his nostrils. They kept asking him to confess to the theft. Later, her young nephew, Pappu, a TB patient, was also brought by the police. The latter not only beat him but also gave him electric shocks. As a result, he fainted.

Now the police turned to Maya. First she was beaten by a woman home guard. Then the darogha became furious and threatened to pour acid on her private parts. When she protested her innocence, he asked her to remove her clothes. When she refused, he stripped her and beat her mercilessly. According to Maya, the entire thana watched all this and laughed.

After having been beaten, Maya lay in that condition for nearly an hour. Then she gathered courage to put her clothes on again. Meanwhile, her mother came to the thana and begged the police to let her daughter go, saying that her children were weeping. The darogha refused to believe that she had any children. So her mother went back, brought the weeping children and sent them into the thana. After this, the police let Maya go with her mother.

When Maya returned, she found that her hut had been ransacked and all her belongings were lying outside. She gathered them together, went to her sister’s house and was able to get a small room nearby to put her things.

At night, the police returned in a jeep and took Maya back to the thana. Her mother was terrified and went to Madina, a woman political worker in the neighbourhood. Madina accompanied her to the thana. When she confronted the police with what they had done, they abused her and forced her to leave the thana. Now they also confined Maya’s mother there. Madina got in touch with a street-play performer, Sanjiva, who contacted some journalists, and all of them went to the thana. The journalists questioned the policemen and Maya. But the police told them that Maya would be sent to jail if they dared to publish anything. All of them were forced to leave the thana. When the story broke the next day, many political parties and activists jumped into the fray. Maya, however, decided to put her trust in the AIDWA. She met the SSP with an AIDWA delegation on August 26.

The delegation demanded action against the policemen concerned, withdrawal of false cases of loot registered against Maya and her relatives, and action against Udaybhan for filing a false case. Next day, Sanjiva and his group staged a street play on this issue in front of the thana. Many AIDWA activists were present along with a huge crowd that took out a procession after the performance, shouting slogans against the police. The same evening, the IG informed AIDWA leaders that the station officer was being suspended and transferred and some other policemen were also being punished. On August 27, Maya appeared before the state SC/ST commission along with AIDWA leaders Subhashini Ali and Urmila. The entire commission questioned her and then accepted her submission. It immediately ordered the state government to submit a report on the incident by September 6.

Meanwhile, the district magistrate also ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident. The AIDWA has made its stand clear. Criminal charges must be instituted against the guilty police personnel and they must be arrested. Maya is in close touch with the organisation and is determined to fight for justice.