The entire community, which lived in Jognima ni Chali (a slum pocket near the airport) had fled to Rajasthan after a Kalbelia woman was lynched on suspicion of being a child-snatcher
More than three months after they fled the city fearing for their lives, some members of the Kalbelia (Madari) community made their way back to Ahmedabad to appear before the Sessions Court. The journey took them 12 hours by road and it was bolstered by the presence of a member from Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNT) Adhikar Manch.
The entire community, which lived in Jognima ni Chali (a slum pocket near the airport) had fled to Rajasthan after a Kalbelia woman was lynched on suspicion of being a child-snatcher.
Shantadevi Nath was lynched by a mob on June 26 at Vadaj circle. She and three other Kalbelia women were begging. Nath died on the spot, while the others sustained deep injuries but managed to escape with their lives intact.
Hansiben was one of them. "It's been been nearly four months since the incident, but I still live in fear," she says, her face covered by a ghoonghat, her hand in a plaster. "My fractured hand has not healed and we don't have money for treatment."
"At first, she refused to come," says Atish Indrekar, a member of the DNT Adhikar Manch, who accompanies Hansiben. "Then police officers from Ahmedabad went to her village to escort her to the city. The entire community has fled but no one has noticed because their numbers are small."
Their houses in Jognima in Chali are broken and uninhabited. Jagan Nath, who has returned home after two months, sits outside his ramshackle home. "Life has always been hard for us," he says, "After the Animal Cruelty Act came into effect, our traditional livelihood (trapping, taming and training monkeys for street performances) was snatched. To make ends meet, we work whereever we can or beg. Now we can't even do that as we have been labelled as child-snatchers."
The community's traditional attire makes them stand out, making it easy for people to identify them; and hard for the Kalbelias to win trust. "Very few communities still wear traditional attire. They can't get jobs because people don't trust them. They are uneducated, unemployed and struggling to survive," says Indrekar.
COMPENSATED
On Tuesday, the state government awarded a compensation of Rs 8.25 lakh to Chuninath, Shantadevi's husband.
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