Shivaji Shinde (32) and his brother Vijay (26) were seated outside their home in Nashik’s Sanjegaon village around 3.30 pm when they were startled by the sound of hurried footsteps and angry slogans.
Shivaji Shinde (32) and his brother Vijay (26) were seated outside their home in Nashik’s Sanjegaon village around 3.30 pm when they were startled by the sound of hurried footsteps and angry slogans. The slogans — “None of them should be spared, catch each one of them and thrash them” — left them cowering in fear but there was no time to run.
As if from nowhere, men wielding bamboos emerged and hit the brothers on their heads, leaving them bloodied. The Shindes are some of the victims of the caste-based violence and protests under which Nashik has been reeling since last Sunday after reports emerged that a minor Maratha girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a teenaged Dalit boy in Talegaon village.
Shivaji was referred to JJ Hospital by authorities at Nashik civil hospital since the latter lacks specialised resources to treat severe head injuries. Vijay, who is a farm labourer, is being treated for milder head injuries at the Nashik hospital. The Nashik police is probing the attack on the brothers and determining the identity of the attackers. Nashik police’s Superintendent of Police (SP), Ankush Shinde, told The Asian Age on Thursday, “The two brothers were attacked by the mob and they are being treated at hospitals.”
The officer added, “Investigations are on to establish if they had been attacked by a Maratha mob or if the attack was a result of the family’s rivalry with somebody.”
Since the attacks, the Shinde family and several others in the village have taken shelter on the premises of a local school, abandoning the comforts of their homes.
Shivaji’s maternal aunt, Kanchanbai, told The Asian Age, “We have been staying in school since the attacks. We are afraid of staying at our homes.” She whispered, “We fear for our family members, especially the girls and women. The mob of Maratha samaj is deliberately causing harm to us as we belong to a scheduled caste.”
She said, “We are hapless the police is not doing anything. Our means of communication have been cut off and we have no way to reach out to our people for help.”
Nashik, meanwhile, remained tense on Thursday. The curfew has been clamped in eight villages of Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar tehsils in the wake of group clashes and incidents of stone pelting. Curfew had been imposed last night as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in Vilholi, Sanjegaon, Shevagedang, Anjenary, Talegaon, Mahirawani, Talwade and Gonde villages, and it will remain in force till tomorrow, police sources said. However, the situation in Nashik city was stated to be well under control, police said.
The SP said, “Twenty one people were arrested in the district due to tension that occurred after the Talegaon incident. Out of the 21, three people were arrested for throwing stones on the house of Nationalist Congress Party corporator Shivaji Chumbhale of Cidco area of Nashik.”
According to sources, amid the disturbances, the state of the Nashik civil hospital continues to be an issue of concern. It allegedly has no neuro-surgeon or any Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan facility. The CT scanners are also not working properly.
