Protests over the Burning Alive of a Dalit Girl in Agra
SANJALI, a Dalit girl studying in class X was mercilessly burnt alive in Agra by goons. The heart wrenching incident led to angry protests across the state of Uttar Pradesh and the country. On 25 December, several people’s organizations called for a statewide protest against this brutal incident. AISA-IPWA also gave a nationwide call to observe protest day on 25 December. Several protest demonstrations, public meetings and marches were organized across the state demanding resignation of the UP CM. On 25 December, a team from CPI (ML) comprising of state committee member and Mathura party incharge Nasir Sah, Suraj Deep and others visited Agra and met with the family of Sanjali. They expressed deep grief and solidarity of the party with the family.
In Varanasi, several progressive, democratic and peace loving individuals and organizations took out a protest march from the BHU gate to the Ravidas gate and organized a memorial meeting for Sanjali. They also demanded the resignation of UP CM who has proved himself to be incapable of stopping violence, murders and violence against women in the state. Prof. Chauthiram who was also coordinating the meeting said that there was an atmosphere of fear in the state. AIPWA leader Com. Kusum Verma said that despite BJP’s slogan of Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, the girls were neither able to study freely in the state nor even live safely. The situation of Dalit and tribal girls was even worse in the Yogi raj. The secretary of Naari Ekta, Prof. Swati Singh said that the fascist character of the sangh-BJP is becoming dangerous for the common masses, especially women.
In Gorakhpur also massive protest march were organized with slogans demanding ‘justice for Sanjali’ reverberating in the city. The protests were joined by AIPWA, RYA and JSM. The leaders of these organizations also addressed protest meeting pointing out how women, Dalits, minorities, farmers and all oppressed sections had come under increased attacks after BJP governments came to power. The police under CM Yogi on most occasions instead of capturing the accused were often found harassing the victims and their families. Protests were also organized in Rae Bareli, Moradabad, Mathura, Gazipur, Deoria, Lakhimpur Khiri and Sitapur. On 24 December, under the leadership of AIPWA leader Com. Sarojini, protests demonstration was held outside the district headquarters of Sitapur. The protestors across districts vowed to intensify the struggle till justice was ensured for Sanjali.
Bihar: A protest meeting was organized in Patna under the leadership of RYA Patna Mahanagar secretary Com. Manish Kumar. Hundreds of people joined the march. Responding to the national call of AIPWA-AISA to observe 25 December as a protest day, AIPWA and AISA took out a protest march in Bhagalpur. Hundreds of people carrying flags, banners and placards demanding resignation of CM Yogi and justice for Sanjali joined the march. Addressing the meeting, AIPWA and AISA leaders said that in Modi-Yogi and Nitish rule, the spirits of criminals and feudal goons were at an all time high. In Darbhanga too, slogans of “justice for Sanjali”, “UP CM resign” echoed as the district committee of AISA took out a “Nyay do” (Ensure delivery of justice) march.
Jharkhand: AISA and AIPWA took out a protest march beginning at Albert Ekka Chowk in Ranchi on 24 December. They also burnt effigies of PM Modi and UP CM Yogi, whose rule has witnessed an unprecedent rise in violence against women. Comrades Eti Tirki and Shanti Sen of AIPWA and Comrades Naureen Akhtar and Seema Gupta of AISA addressed the protest meeting. They said that this horrific incidence shows that democracy, rule of constitution and rule of law have ended in UP and it is not reign and terror of the criminals that has been established. They demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and strict punishment for them. In several districts of Jharkhand, AIPWA and RYA organized protest programmes on 24 and 25 December.
CPI (ML) fact finding report: A CPI(ML) team visited Sanjali’s village Lalau in Malpura Agra. They met Sanjali’s elder sister Anjali who is a BSc student. Anjali shared that Sanjali was fond of music and was a good dancer. They did not have suspicion on anyone. The police had taken their cousin Yogesh (their father’s elder brother’s son) on 18 December itself. They tortured him badly and left him only at midnight on 19 December. He got into serious depression after that consumed poison. He died. The police also took away Yogesh’s maternal uncle’s sons and tried to get them to put the blame on Yogesh. CPI(ML) team also met Sanjali’s second uncle Saudan Singh and other members of the village- Kalyan Singh and Soren Singh. They shared how the police instead of ensuring justice were only trying to somehow fix the blame on those belonging to the family. Instead of capturing the real culprits, the police was only trying to hide the culprits and white wash.
