Laxmanrao Dhoble justifies Satara Dalit’s stripping

Four days after a Dalit woman was allegedly stripped and beaten by members of an upper caste family in Mulgaon village in Satara district, Laxmanrao Dhoble, NCP leader and minister for water supply and sanitation, tried to justify the incident saying that “the anger of the family was natural”.

Upset with the comment, members of the Dalit Mahasangh burned an effigy of Dhoble outside Krishna Charitable Hospital in Karad where the 42-year-old widow was being treated.

In December 2011, the widow’s 21-year old-son eloped with his 18-year-old girlfriend, who is from the Maratha community. The girl’s father, Kishan Desai, kept inquiring with the widow, who belongs to the scheduled caste Matang community, about the whereabouts of her son.

On January 9, about 15 members of the Desai family approached the victim while she was fetching water from the village well. The Dalit Mahasangh claims that the woman beaten with shoes, stones and sticks, stripped, dragged through the village and tied to a tree.

On Friday morning, after visiting the widow, the minister told the media that the incident has been exaggerated.

Dhoble said the woman had been living in the village for two decades without any issue. “The outburst of the girl’s family is natural. The facts are being twisted in this matter, creating environment of suspicion,” Dhoble said.

While five members of the Desai family have been arrested, the state government has ordered an inquiry in this matter.