Pune: Ambedkarite outfits in the city came out on the streets on Sunday in protest of the recent incident of two minor boys belonging to Matang community being beaten up in the Wakdi village in Jamner Taluka of Jalgaon district. Four people have been arrested in the case.
Led by the Pune unit of the Bhim Army, an outfit that began in Uttar Pradesh, many Ambedkarites held a protest at the cross section near Juna Bazaar on Pune station road. The protesters demanded justice for the two children.
Datta Pol, the district head of the Bhim Army, said that this incident highlights the need for a stronger Atrocity Act. “We can see that rather than a dilution of the act, the act needs to be strengthened. We are saying that if there is any misuse of the act, such misuse should also be punished severely,” he said, adding, “In cases like these, the act needs to have more teeth.”
When prompted that the two men, who beat up the children and paraded them naked, were not from the upper caste, Pol said, “They might not be from the typical upper caste, but they were from a relatively better caste.
In addition , they were financially well off.”
Of the four arrested, Pralhad alias Sunya Kailas Lohar, a helper, and his employer Ishwar Joshi, allegedly beat up the children. They are imprisoned at Jalgaon. The other two, Ajij Kasam Tadvi and Sheikh Noor Sardar Tadvi, have been kept in custody of the Pahur Police.
