This is the first part of the series. Read Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4 here.

“Thakur naare laga rahe the Maharana Pratap Zindabaad, Ambedkar Muradabad, Ravidas [baba] Murdabad (people from the Thakur community were shouting slogans – Hail Maharana Pratap, Ambedkar-Ravidas Down-Down),”  recalls Urmila (no last name given). The 30-year-old recounted the events of May 5 –when Shabirpur village of Saharanpur district in western Uttar Pradesh witnessed the worst incident of caste-based violence in its history. Eight days after a frenzied mob attacked over 50 houses owned by Dalits, the village is in shambles – literally and metaphorically.

Somti, 50s, is alone in her house. “First they collected our motorcycle, cycle and every other thing we owned and set it on fire.” Both her sons, Agnibashkar and Seth are hospitalised. Pointing at the roof of the house, she said “My pregnant daughter-in-law [Meenakshi] was attacked. They had swords in their hands,” but “maari beti ne laundi ko bachaya … khud aage aakar maar khali (my daughter shielded my daughter-in-law, but they started attacking her as well.)” Meenakshi is also in the hospital.

Fear and anger pervades Shabirpur village. While several people are still in the hospital, a majority of the men from the community are hiding. They fear either the police will arrest them or further violence might erupt. So far 17 people have been arrested for the May 5 clash. 10 belong to Thakur community, 7 are from the Dalit community, Subash Chandra Dubey, the SSP said.

45-year-old Roshni has been living with other Dalit women at her neighbour’s house since the attack. Her only son has not yet returned to the family’s small two-room kaccha home.

The three stakeholders in the case – the Thakur community, Dalits and the administration each have their own version of events. The upper caste Thakurs claim that the violence was triggered only when 27-year-old Sumit Singh from Rasoolpur village was “murdered by the Dalits.”

The Dalit women said that thousands of Thakur youth, with safas on their head, targeted their houses, one after another –“wo [Dalit]  ki basti ujadne aaye the (they had come to destroy our homes),” Urmila said.
Around 500 metres away from her house, another Dalit-owned house lies in ruins. The remains of the house tells the story. The roof has fallen down; a cupboard is charred and broken, and there is the burnt, twisted remains of at least three motorcycles.

Police sources claim that the violence was the cumulative result of long drawn tension between the communities. The panchayati election also attributed to the simmering tension, not to mention the power struggle between the communities.

In a village with over 2,200 voters, the scheduled caste and other backward castes (OBCs) together outnumber the Thakur community. The Thakurs are financially dominant but in terms of votes, they are behind the other two communities.

In 2016, Shabirpur was made a general seat. Even then, Shiv Kumar from the Dalit community won the polls. This has created a sense of resentment among the Thakurs. Kumar is the main accused in the FIR lodged for the murder of Sumit Singh – who was killed on May 5.

On April 14, the Dalit community wanted to erect a statue of Ambedkar in the Ravidas Temple of the village. An officer in the UP-PAC said “the non-Dalits had objected to the installation of Ambedkar’s statue. However, matter was settled then, as the Dalits agreed to install it only once they have permission from the administration.”

He further added, “On May 5, the Dalits objected to a procession being carried out for Maharanparatap Jayanti.” The violence erupted when a mob from Simlana village, where Jayanti was being organised, headed to Shabirpur.

The statue of Ravidas in the temple was damaged as were the gates. It was soon after that the houses were set on fire. A police-officer told Newslaundry that both sides also pelted stones at each other.

The Thakur claim, that Singh’s death triggered the outbreak of violence against Dalits. His family and neighbours claimed that Singh was not even part of the procession for Maharana Pratap Jayanti. “Wo apni bua ke ghar milne gaya tha (He had gone to meet his aunt),” his father Biram Singh told Newslaundry. “We received a call, they said ‘your son has been murdered’”.

Shiv Kumar Singh was among the first to see Singh’s body in the hospital. He claimed to have seen evidence of violence on the body. “His chest was hit by bricks, I could see it. Even his back had similar marks.” However, according to the reports, Singh died of suffocation and there were no marks on his body.

But Singh friends and neighbour’s refuse to accept this and claimed that he was dragged inside a house and killed by Dalits. Singh’s neighbours decry the media coverage of the attacks. “Ye aapko dabang ka ghar dikhta hai kya (Does this look like a powerful goon’s house?),” Singh’s father, also holds Dalits responsible for his son’s death. Biram said, “ek harijan hain [Shabirpur’s Pradhan], usne kiya hai (Shabirpur’s Pradhan is responsible for his death.)” 

The family barely owns two biggahs of land. Singh himself was a daily wage worker. “He did other odd jobs to take care his father, wife and two kids,” his uncle Vedpal said.

A few youth claimed that the Dalits set their own houses on fire. Two men, Ram Singh and Amit Kumar Singh said that if the authorities don’t do something, “Rajput [Thakur] community will have to come together.”

The author can be contacted on Twitter @tweets_amit.