DEATH OF TWO VERMIN

 

By K P PASWAN.

True Story

Before narrating the true story, it is necessary to give a glimpse of Indian society as such type of killings are happening all over the country.

 Apartheid is practiced in India and a group of castes known as DALITS is considered as vermin. This is going on since time immemorial and there is no remedy to erase or remove it. We heard apartheid in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Jews were massacred for reasons best known to Hitler but a tiny sovereign land of Jews survive and continue to survive against all odds.

India was divided on the basis of religion but communal tension and mistrust and hatred between the majority community and Minorities continue to exist, Fact of the matter is that no political party in India can hope to form a government without diatribe against the majority community. Multiculturalism has destroyed US and UK and diversity is playing havoc in India, no body knows whether diversity is an asset or liability in India and general opinion among impartial observers is that it is both an asset and liability. Than there is linguistic chauvinism There is a small state in India.  People of this state believe in false glorification of their language and culture. One of the gentlemen has claimed that his mother language is oldest in the universe.  Second one thinks that his mother language is more than fifty-thousand-year-old, in a way Neanderthals used to speak this language. There is third joker who claims that they have migrated from Indus Valley.  Any way no language in India with script is more than two-thousand-year-old. Anti-Hindi is the cornerstone of the political party in power in that state, but what is Hindi imposition? A few persons fond of anti-Hindi ideology claim that all the Southern States support English as the medium of communication. But the harsh reality is that there is no unity among these southern states. Every state fight against each other. Love for mother language all over the world is understandable. India is a land of many languages, some with scripts and some without scripts. but Hindi is the unifying language of native dialects in Northern India. Hindi is spoken in different parts of India, even in North Eastern parts comprising Manipur Assam and other smaller states, there is no widespread protest against Hindi.

After Ukraine war, UNO is likely to recognize Hindi as one of its official language, There wont be any opposition. It will be an unanimous decision. It will not be considered not as an imposition, it will be an addition.

People in Northern parts of India think movies means of entertainment, but in a particular state in South India, film stars are like divine deities and movie stars play an important role in political and social life.  South India is notorious for committing atrocities against Dalits who are being called as Vermin. In Northern India, not so long-ago vermin were massacred on large scale but in south India it is worst and frightening. Atrocities against Dalits in both parts of India is being committed by other backward classes who excel in their opposition to Dalits . In North India barring exceptions Brahmins are not found indulged in killing and harassing Dalits but in South India anger against Brahmin is so high that they are openly abused and boycotted.

DEATH OF VERMIN.  Dalits in India are like Vermin hated all over India. Nearly 20 years back this chilling incident occurred. In a passenger train, a Dalit boy of nearly 15 years old was selling peanuts to different passengers. His elder brother was selling betel nuts and other smaller items in another compartment of the same train.  Their parents worked as bonded labors, they were not starving but they were poor. They had no daughter and their two sons were only hopes. Both the brothers were school drop outs. Younger brother sold peanuts to two persons and received the payments. Both of those purchasers belonged to the backward communities infamous for hatred toward Dalits. They come to know that they consumed peanuts sold by a Dalit, one of them dragged the boy while second one whipped out an unlicensed small pistol and shot dead the Dalit boy. The boy died peacefully. As usual the Railway police investigated the case and filled the charge sheet. The Session judge started the hearing. Since the killing occurred in a passenger train, several eye witnesses were supposed to depose. But the most potential witness, the elder brother of the victim never stood in the witness box. No eye witness came forward to support the prosecution and all of them turned hostile.  The Prosecution was behaving like defense counsel. There were enough circumstantial evidences, but in absence of credible eyewitness all the accused were freed. The poor Dalit family who lost earning members were mercifully freed by their owner and out of poverty they resorted to begging.

Life became normal. In a strange twist after three months of their acquittal and it in the month of early September when the monsoon in India is at its zenith and play havoc in certain parts of India, the killers along with their entire family (21 in number) were going to attend a function and were crossing the swelling river in a large Steamer ( mechanized boat), such type of boat is known as  Steamer  which played regularly and there was no question of mechanical failure, but the Steamer in the midst of the river capsized and the two killers along with their entire family  drowned, as per police report there were only three survivors who somehow swam to safety. These three survivors did not belong to the killer’s family. Later on, all the bodies were recovered and identified. People of the adjoining area were taken aback and thronged the nearby temple. Meanwhile the judge who gave the ruling in favour of the accused suffered massive heart attack and died in his chamber, the prosecutor died of mysterious disease. One of the witness who turned hostile committed suicide while second was admitted in a mental hospitable in another state.  Dalits numbering about 70 of that village migrated to Punjab to work there as farm laborers.

 The Dalit boy was not a criminal, he was just a hawker and at the time of selling peanuts he did not know that he was selling peanuts to his slayers.

 A Dalit boy of the area belonging to an educated Dalit family after completing his post-graduation in Kolkata qualified and selected for the top service of India. He evinced keen interest in the case and wanted the reasons why the elder brother failed to appear as the most reliable witness.  Other family members of the Dalit officer occupied important posts in the government, so even after going to foreign country he continued his keen interest in this strange case. With help from local administration in Punjab every Dalit family of the village was rummaged and focus shifted to another city but there was no trace of the boy.

After a gap of nearly ten years and during the time of pandemic a Brahmin who suffered heart problem needed help and the Dalit family contacted the surgeon of Kolkata who implanted the best Pace maker at lower cost. After one year when the Dalit Officer visited his home, the Brahmin and a few elders came to thank the Dalit officer.  He made a strange narration which completely solved the mystery why the elder brother failed to stand in the witness box because he was not alive. According to the Brahmin one of the killers was boasting after acquittal that they also killed the elder boy and threw the body into the river. This possibility was never ruled out but now it was confirmed. Killing of Dalits in India are not uncommon. But there is also improvement in their conditions. Several welfare schemes have been launched and the killing of Dalits on a large scale is not being seen in recent years. But it appears a different kind of Apartheid is being introduced in the name of caste Census

The killing of two Dalits as narrated above is pathetic as the parents of these two boys became beggars and died in abject poverty. Killers also died in the worst possible manner. This narration cannot be the central point of a thriller as there was not a conspiracy. There were no detectives searching for a clue and there was no hero emerging at the end of the true story.

 Werner Heisenberg the founder of Uncertainty principles removes the need for an omnipotent and omniscient deity, this point is open for debate. Every thing including our lives are uncertain.

 So even if there is nothing like a providence, nature has its own way of revenge.

Sun continued to rise  but two innocent and unfortunate boys  are not not there to enjoy the sunrise.