Urination Incident Shows Pervasiveness of Violence Against Adivasis in MP

After the video of a man from Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district urinating on a hapless Adivasi man named Dashmat Rawat went viral early this week, it led to indignation and uproar.

The 30-year-old accused Pravesh Shukla, who is said to be an aide of the local Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Kedarnath Mishra, was arrested on 4 July and booked under the sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the National Security Act.

Since assembly elections are only a few months away, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan swiftly got into action to pacify the anger over the incident and to send a message to the Adivasis that he cares about them. He invited Rawat to his official residence in the capital Bhopal where he washed his feet, garlanded him and later had lunch with him while enquiring about his family and income. The photos and videos of the meeting were carefully circulated.

The state government on Friday announced that Rawat, who is a manual labourer, will get Rs 6.5 lakh in relief and financial assistance.

Rawat belongs to the Kol tribal group, one of the 48 communities listed in the Scheduled Tribes list for the state. At more than 1.5 crore, according to the 2011 census, Madhya Pradesh has one of the highest Adivasi populations in the country.

Adivasis, who make up more than 21% of the state's population, have 47 assembly seats reserved for them out of the total 230 constituencies. Experts says they carry weight in 30-40 other constituencies as well.

In the 2018 elections, the BJP managed to win only 15 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, while the Congress won 31. And considering the numerous incidents of crime against the Adivasis during the BJP rule, the saffron party will not have it easy in the upcoming elections either.

Commenting on the urination incident, Hiralal Alawa, sitting MLA and founder and national convenor of the Jay Adivasi Yuva Shakti, said in a video message,

"In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, many instances of atrocities against Adivasis have been reported. May it be Nemawar massacre, Neemuch murder or Bamori Guna murder, the inhumane attacks on Adivasis have increased, atrocities against Adivasis have increased and the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has failed in providing security and protection to them."

In July 2022, a video emerged of an Adivasi woman Rampyari Bai, who was set ablaze by a group of villagers over a land dispute in Madhya Pradesh's Guna district. The middle-aged woman later succumbed to her burns. Rampyari Bai belonged to the Saharia tribe, which the government categorises as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.

A year earlier, in an incident from Dewas district, one Surendra Chauhan, with the help of his aides, killed five members of an Adivasi family over his relationship with an Adivasi woman that went wrong and buried their bodies in an eight-feet deep pit. The bodies were found only after 45 days.

NCRB Report Shows Preponderance of Crime Against Adivasis

According to the National Crime Records Bureau report 'Crime in India 2021,' Madhya Pradesh reported 2,627 cases filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2021. The number increased from 2,401 in 2020 and 1,922 in 2019.

While the higher number of cases doesn't necessarily mean more crime as it can also be a reflection of better reporting, something that needs to be lauded and not condemned, the high number of atrocity cases against the Adivasis, nevertheless, is quite concerning.

The NCRB also reports that in the year 2021 itself, 52 cases of murder were reported in which the victim was an Adivasi person.

While in the category of assault on women with the intent to outrage their modesty, something that many Adivasi women have to face in their lifetime due to the double whammy of marginalised social position and gender, 308 cases were reported in 2021.

The NCRB also reported 376 cases of rape against Adivasi women for the state of Madhya Pradesh in 2021.

Finally, 1,304 cases of simple hurt and 36 cases of grievous hurt against the Scheduled Tribes were reported by the NCRB for 2021.

Since many cases go unreported, more so due to the marginalised position of the Scheduled Tribes, it can be safely said that the NCRB figures are an undercount. These numbers also don't capture the pervasive violence the Adivasis, especially the ones who live inside or near forest areas, have to face at the hands of state agents such as forest officials.

Academic Alf Gunvald Nilsen writes in his 2012 paper 'Adivasi Mobilization in Contemporary India: Democratizing the Local State?'

"Villagers recounted how, if they were caught walking along the road carrying a sickle, they would be accused of going to collect fodder from the forest and beaten up; the officials would invariably demand money from them if they wanted to avoid criminal charges. Similarly, if people were caught with an axe, or if they were carrying firewood, they would risk beatings and extortion. If someone needed to cut down trees to get building materials for a house, the forest guards demanded a bribe of up to 2,500 rupees, chickens and home-made liquor."