Two years of Bhima Koregaon Arrests

Elgaar Parishad was an event held on 31 December 2017 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima. The Mahar-dominated British troops had defeated their caste oppressor i.e Peshwa army. Thus, Bhima Koregaon has become a symbol in Maharashtra for celebrating Dalit pride of victory of Dalits over their oppressors. A memorial nearby honours local hero Govind Gopal Mahar who is said to have performed the last rites of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj who died at the hands of Aurangzeb. On December 29, this same memorial had been desecrated, and this led to tensions between Dalits and upper castes. The event, of course, found mention at the Elgar Parishad event.

While reportedly violence erupted on 1 January 2018, after saffron flag carrying groups entered the scene. This is further accentuated by Hindutva activists Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote's resolve to treat Bhima Koregaon celebrations as a black day. You can read more about the timeline that led up to the event here. No action has been taken against Bhide, Ekbote and organisations that threatened to create violence if the event took place and they have been systemically erased from public memory. The state has instead arrested several activists on concocted charges and allegedly fabricated evidence. This was the beginning of the state's witch hunt of those they dubbed as 'urban naxals' to disarm the civil rights movement in the country.

In the following article, Advocate Nihal Singh Rathod recounts the beginning of this witch-hunt before abusing law became a norm.

 JUNE 6, 2018, shall remain a day deeply engraved on my psyche forever, for it changed my life and life of many I know. It shook me to the core. It is not as if I was not at all prepared for it, given its foundation was laid much prior. I did not imagine the extent of falsity the State could get away with. It was in those times of frustration that, I was trying to withdraw from public life, litigation and activism, but it was the episode of that day, which made me throw away the thought of quitting practice and force myself back on the streets and courts.

Morning about 6:30

I received a call, "sir ke ghar pe firse police aai hai"(police is has again come to sir"s house). I was in my sleepers and woken from slumber. Yet it did not take me long to realize that our mentor, our pillar of support, our motivator, our guide, and extremely close friend was being arrested. Rubbing my eyes, and trying to drive as fast as I could, I fervently hoped that it was a nightmare and would pass. My partner will shake me to wake up and the morning would be a usual one. No, it was not to be.