It was a desperately sad situation that we encountered when we went to Chennaram village in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to find out the facts about the Banamati (witchcraft) Stoning and Murder of Mr. Niranjan, an old man. Mr. Niranjan was linked to three unnatural deaths in the village and suspected of sorcery. A meeting of the village council was called, and the victim was condemned to stoning. He was tied to a tree and stoned to death. He was a Dalit and the situation of his widow and her grief was heartrending. The villagers were mostly unmoved by her plight – after all, they were unmoved by the old man's cries for help when he was beaten and paraded in the village and then stoned to death after being tied to a tree next to the Panchayat (village council) office.

We met with the villagers, spoke to the victim’s family, organised an anti-superstition demonstration (Sri Chandraiah and Sri Vikram), went to the sarpanch's (village headwoman) home (in fact her husband is believed by everyone to be, and acts as, the sarpanch!) to demand what she did and then met with the Circle Inspector (CI), Mr. Kishan.

Following the meeting with the CI, we feel reassured that the guilty (not just the three who were arrested but also those who were instigators: the sarpanch's husband had no powers to convene a panchayat (consultative village meeting), in the first place) will be brought to book; as it is the murder of a Dalit, there is automatic compensation that they will receive from the government and some relief.

Here are some press clippings. the names of those who went as part of the team are mentioned in the reports: it was physically possible thanks to assistance by Sri Lakshman Reddy, Coordinator of the Banamati Nirmoolana Aikya Vedika and Sri K.V.R. Reddy of Manava Vikasa Vedika. Sri Anjaneyulu of Disha, a Humanist Dalit organisation, and Sri Veeraswamy of Spoorthy, another Humanist Dalit organisation helped in organising the visit. It is no surprise that the local Dalit MLA did not think fit to visit the victim’s family since the crime! No other politicians have come forward either.

We will submit a report to the Director General of Police of our findings and our analysis. In brief, we found the prevalence of old animosities, a village deeply divided along caste lines, hopeless ignorance, liquor problem with illicit liquor being sold and a complete lack of humanity amongst the villagers to be the context that allowed Sri Niranjan to be so mercilessly beaten. No Dalit is allowed into the village temple, and perhaps some of the village’s Dalits sat on a chair publicly in the centre of the village for the first time, at our insistence.  Mr. Niranjan's sons have been threatened as well, and the names of those intimidators have also been given to the police.

-- Babu Gogineni