The Indian constitution — violated 

Just outside the two-platform Parbhani railway station in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region flutters the Indian national flag mounted on a pole. Beyond the tea shops selling misal pav and hotels catering to travellers, in front of an Art Deco building, is a statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who headed the drafting committee of the Constitution of India. Behind the statue are more symbols of the Indian republic: a replica of the Ashoka Chakra that forms the central symbol of the national flag, and the Ashoka Pillar, the original erected in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha gave his first sermon. In front is the Constitution, now covered in a blue cloth, the colour of Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes Federation of India flag. From the statue, the Doctor Line market begins, extending about 3 km up to Gandhi Park.

Dilip Ragade, 55, who runs a newspaper stand next to the statue, recalls a scuffle between a man and an autorickshaw driver between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on December 10. “At first, I thought he had pulled something out of the autorickshaw and thrown it on the road. Later, I realised that it was the replica of the Constitution. The autorickshaw driver had confronted the man,” he says. Soon, a crowd of about 200 people gathered and the man was thrashed, say witnesses. People ran towards the market spreading the word, and shops began to shut.

The police, the District Collector, and Ambedkarite leaders showed up and took the badly injured man to hospital, says Ragade. The man was arrested and the police told people that he was mentally ill and had not done the damage on purpose. Ambedkarites, however, were not convinced. They blocked the Nandigram Express for at least 30 minutes. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Yashwant Kale says the train left Parbhani station only after the Government Railway Police dispersed the crowd.

The next day, following protests by Ambedkarites, there was stone pelting and arson, followed by a crackdown by the Parbhani police. Somnath Suryavanshi, 35, who had come from Pune for his law entrance examination, was allegedly picked up from where he was staying. He died in judicial custody a few days later.

Ambedkarites claim people not from their community joined the protests so the blame for the violence would fall on them. They say the “police brutality” was a reflection of how Dalits are treated in society.

Protests of different kinds

Earlier in the day on December 10, Hindu Sakal Samaj, a right-wing outfit, had taken out a morcha (march) condemning the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh, which has a prominent border with India. It took place a few metres from the Ambedkar statue where the statue of 17th-century Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, a symbol of Maratha pride, is located. There was not much movement in the city during the morcha, say the residents of Parbhani. Ambedkarites claim several people delivered provocative speeches. This right-wing event combined with the desecration of the Constitution’s replica angered Dalits, many of whom are Ambedkar’s followers. Around 8 p.m. that night, the administration organised a shanti samiti baithak (peaceful meeting). Here, Ambedkarite leaders said they would carry out a protest at five locations in Parbhani the next day. They would also submit a letter to the Collector putting forth their demands, which included charging the man and his ‘accomplices’ under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and making him undergo a polygraph test to find out the ‘mastermind’ behind the act of vandalism. That night, the city went to sleep peacefully.

The following day, Ambedkarite organisations called for a bandh. These included the Republican Sena led by a grandson of Ambedkar; the Republican Party of India (A) led by Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale; and the Buddhist Society of India, founded by Ambedkar himself, who had converted to Buddhism.

Ambedkarite groups began protests across the city around 8 a.m. People gathered in groups ranging from 200 to 1,000. Seven groups peacefully submitted the charter of demands to the Collector. The police say the eighth group got disruptive, forcing its way into the Collector’s office. Soon, they say, violence erupted in the market, about 600 metres from the office. There was stone pelting and arson, followed by the firing of tear gas shells, say witnesses.

A city unsettled

Ambedkarites say the police reacted violently. A 32-year-old demonstrator says, “The police first stopped us from reaching out to the Collector. That is why we agitated and some of us got on top of the police van to raise slogans. Now, they are looking for me everywhere.” She has been in hiding after a video featuring her protesting went viral. Infuriated, she says, “We agitated for something that has given us a dignified life.” She says a few men wearing masks and holding lathis had joined the protesters. “The people of Ambedkar Basti did not have these when they left.”

Eight FIRs were registered, over 200 people booked, and 50 arrested, including minor girls from Dalit bastis (neighbourhoods) in Parbhani such as Gautam Nagar, Priyadarshini Nagar, Rahul Nagar, and Bhim Nagar. The police booked people on charges of rioting, assault on public servants, promoting enmity, and damaging public property. “Two police vans, two four-wheelers, 18 two-wheelers, and hundreds of shops were damaged. Nine police personnel were injured. Five women were released a day after detention,” says the ASP. “So far, 27 people have been arrested,” he says.

On December 11, orders were issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, preventing the assembly of five or more people. Social activists and locals have criticised the administration for taking a whole day to do this. “The State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) unit was stationed a few kilometres from here in Hingoli, yet the police did not act,” says a 49-year-old retailer in the area. The SRPF was deployed the next day after 2 p.m.

Vijay Wakode, an Ambedkarite leader, who died of a heart attack while protesting against the death of Somnath, had said the protest was peaceful until 1 p.m. “Then things went haywire and we cancelled the rally scheduled to be held after the protest,” he had said, adding that people not part of the Ambedkar movement got mixed in the crowd, making Ambedkarite organisations the scapegoat “to malign us”.

During the Maharashtra Assembly’s winter session in Nagpur, the Opposition slammed the Mahayuti government over “poor law and order” in the State. In response, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The government will never do anything against the Constitution and the insult of it will not be tolerated.”

Meanwhile, newly appointed Minister and MLA from Jintur in Parbhani Meghana Bordikar told mediapersons that “Suryawanshi’s death was due to a heart attack”. She also defended the police, saying, “They arrested the accused immediately.”

A market on edge

One of the shops that was damaged belonged to Kapil Chonde, 25. As news of the violence spread, he quickly bundled up sweaters, caps, and dark glasses that lay on his makeshift platform under a tarpaulin tied between an electric pole and bamboo struts. On seeing the mob rush in his direction, he sought safety in a pucca shop, but a lot of his goods were burnt. “The crowd was massive; they could have burnt anything that came in its way. The anger was visible and the police were hiding,” Chonde says, two days after the incident, distraught. He estimates his loss at ₹40,000. He has taken a loan of ₹60,000 and wonders how he will pay it back.

Several traders are grappling with the task of assessing the extent of damage. Boards were damaged, doors bashed in, pushcarts broken, and bits thrown into the gutter. The Parbhani police estimate that property worth at least ₹30 lakh was damaged. Doctor Line has shops owned by a variety of trading communities from different ethnicities and religions. However, Kashinath Shinde, 45, one of the owners, says, “Most shops are of the Maratha community. The violence was targeted at them as the perpetrator is a Maratha.”

The area around the Ambedkar statue has been cordoned off with barricades. Riot Control Police vans are stationed at the opposite end of the road. At least 10 police personnel are deployed every 300 metres, and police vans stationed at every kilometre, with patrolling every half an hour. The government also suspended Internet services for two days.

Rumours abound in the city. One talks about the arrest of a 10-year-old girl, another the custodial death of a woman. The moment a rumour is spread, the shutters of shops go down. This happens a couple of times. The police announce on loudspeakers that these claims are untrue.

Dalits traumatised

In Dalit settlements, people are gripped with fear of getting picked up by the police. Kalawanti Dabade, 50, a daily wage earner, says, “The police are searching every house and taking our children.” A demonstrator from Bhim Nagar says, “We started pelting stones when the police resorted to lathi charge and opened tear gas. We missed our exams because they are looking for us and many of us are in hiding.” His body is covered with black and green scars that he says are a result of the lathi charge. “The government hospital refused to take me in, saying I was a rioter.”

Vachala Manavte, 53, was hospitalised after she was released from jail on December 12. She works at a nearby hospital and was allegedly thrashed for recording a video of the police while they were detaining youth in Priyadarshini Nagar. “After dragging me there, they threw me in the lock-up and slapped and kicked me. They were trying to retrieve my mobile phone’s password to delete the video,” she says.

Rutuja, 20, and Pooja, 27, along with two minor sisters, aged 14 and 12, from Bhim Nagar were taken into custody. “They treated us like animals and humiliated us for being Dalit. I could actually relate to Jai Bhim (a Tamil movie on a tribal woman fighting for justice). They asked us to kneel and not look up,” says Rutuja, adding that the police also took her hall ticket for her first-year BA exams. Pooja tells a similar story. The minor girls’ mother has sent them to Nanded to avoid harassment by the police.

Politicians have been visiting the area following the violence. Athawale visited the Ambedkar statue, garlanded it, met officials in-charge of the administration, and residents of Bhim Nagar. Sujat Ambedkar, the great-grandson of Ambedkar, also garlanded the statue and visited Bhim Nagar.

On December 17, Prakash Ambedkar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief and Sujat’s father, posted a video on X and wrote: “A mother of a newborn was brutally assaulted by the police in her house. She had locked herself in the bathroom to save herself from the violence, but the police broke the door down and brutally beat her up.”

Conspiracy theories

The man who desecrated the Constitution is from Mirzapur village in Parbhani district and worked at grocery shops in Parbhani. His father-in-law, who asked not to be named, says his younger son was the first to receive a call from the police informing them about the incident. He adds that he will accept what the law decides. “For the last two months, he had been hospitalised in Akola (about 200 km from Parbhani) and arrived in the city on the day of the incident,” he says. “For the past 16 years, he has been under treatment for mental health issues.” A doctor confirms this.

Ambedkarite organisations believe the man was used. “This could be a conspiracy to create a rift between Marathas and Dalits. The police must probe this under the Supreme Court’s observation,” Bhimrao Hattiambire, an Ambedkarite leader from Parbhani, says.

However, District Collector Raghunath Gawade calls this a “mere coincidence” and dismisses such a possibility. “Prima facie there is no correlation between the two incidents. We are investigating this angle. This was a huge but unintentional mistake.”

Somnath’s brother Premnath Suryawanshi is now fighting for justice. His lawyer, Pawan Jondhale, says Somnath had no role in the events of December 11 and was picked up with other men from Shankar Nagar, where a number of Dalits live. “He came to Parbhani from Pune to fulfil his dream of becoming a lawyer,” he says. “He did odd jobs, from driving to labour work, and supported his family.”

Vilas Kale, who calls himself a Parbhanikar, sits outside a restaurant whose board was damaged in the violence. In February, during the Urs (death anniversary of a Muslim holy man) of Hazrat Sayyed Shah Turabul Haq Baba, which saw the participation of both Hindus and Muslims, tensions over the molestation of a woman resulted in stone pelting. “The Urs was cut short by four days citing law and order issues,” he says. “Parbhani has always been sensitive.”