Khairlangi Massacre - Justice denied

“The city police today foiled the bid by Khailangi Action Committee to stage their ‘Nagpur-Khairlangi’ protest march…over 224 people were detained…..”

Indian Express, Nov. 13, 2006

The brutal massacre of the Bhotmange family in the sleepy village of Kherlangi has exposed the deep rooted social dilemmas that we as a society have not been able to address. Vociferous protests to expedite the judicial probe and prosecute the responsible parties for this heinous crime seems to have fallen of deaf ears.

Many theories have been floated recently indicating political motives behind the recent protests, the so called 'dalit offensive', to regain lost political ground. Also there is a perception that the issue will soon be engulf by a enthusiastic apolitical but equally hyper social activism. To add insult to injury the State home minister, R.R. Patil insinuated that the violent agitations have been perpetrated by naxalites and that some leftists and naxalites were fanning the incident after a month. These allegations not only lack credibility, but threaten to trivialize the fact that a four people were murdered by a seemingly all pervasive majority.

There are many issues which need to be resolved. The government has assured that all the demands made by social organisations will be considered. But the govt. noble intentions must manifest in actual action and not just on paper. The protests against this massacre have brought to light the little faith that people have in the government machinery.

The complete details of the incident can be read at the following links:

Tehelka.com:

Dalits like flies to feudal lords

Times of India:

Just another rape case

Indian Express:

IG probe says cops at fault