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"Yuvraj Galande and Manoj Bodkhe stripped us, urinated in our mouths, and made us lick their spit off of their shoes. They made comments like 'the backwards think too much of themselves' and 'we will show you that we are Marathas'," recalled Shubham Maghade, who woke up on 25 August to a day of horrors.
A 21-year-old nursing student from the Haregaon village in of Shrirampur in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, Maghade was one of the three Dalit boys tied and thrashed by six men on the suspicion of stealing a goat and pigeons from the house of the accused. The fourth victim is from an upper caste community. All victims, other than Maghade, are minors.
The video of the incident went viral on 27 August.
Maghade, who lives with his grandmother, lost both his parents at a young age. In the First Information Report (FIR) accessed by The Quint, he narrated the ordeal of the four victims.
"They picked us up from our homes, took us to the farm of Yuvraj Galande, tied us to a mango tree, and thrashed us with cable wires. The other two men Deepak Gaikwad and Durgesh Vaidya also hurled casteist slurs at us, thrashed us with cable wires with the intention to kill us," Maghade said.
'Picked Boys from Their Homes, Also Threatened Mother of a Victim'
The families of all four victims were reluctant to file the FIR at first till they met Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) member Charan Tribhuvan.
Speaking to The Quint, Tribhuvan, who assisted the families in getting the FIR filed, said that there is no confirmation or proof that the victims stole anything or not from the families of the accused.
"They took two boys in the morning first, both minors, and kept them till the afternoon before they let them go. After they came home, one of them did not even have any clothes on him. They had spat on them and urinated on them. He came home and took a bath first. Then, they took Maghade away. One of his friends saw the accused taking him. He got suspicious and went looking for him when he heard Maghade's screams. He found him being beaten and confronted the accused. The accused said that Shubham had stolen the pigeons and wanted him to confess," Tribhuvan said.
'Galande Family Also Threatened Mother of Victim'
Tribhuvan alleged that the family of Yuvraj Galande was confronted by the mother of one of the minors after the incident.
"The mother of one of the victims confronted the Galande family after the incident. They said that she will also be hanged by a tree the same way that he son was if she did not leave," claimed Tribhuvan.
Tribhuvan, who was not in the village when the incident took place, was approached by Maghade upon his return.
"They showed me the video. Even when I was with them, they were constantly getting calls from Galande and the other accused to try to persuade them to not approach the police and bury the hatchet. If they would have returned to the village without telling the police, there was a possibility of them being harassed and pressurised by the families of the accused. Hence, I first took them to Shrirampur civil hospital for treatment and got them admitted. We approached the police who took their statements the next day and we got the FIR registered," he said.
However, there is no clarity yet if any of the victims were actually responsible for any theft.
The six accused have been identified as Yuvraj Galande, Manoj Bodkhe, Pappu Parkhe, Deepak Gaikwad, Durgesh Vaidya, and Raju Borge.
Speaking to The Quint, investigating officer Dashrat Chaudhary said that four of the six accused have been arrested so far while two are still absconding.
The arrested include Galande and Bodkhe, both from upper caste community, and Parkhe and Gaikwad, both Dalits. Vaidya and Borge are still absconding.
"The accused got information from each other that the four boys were responsible for stealing pigeons. They apprehended them in their homes early morning. Further investigation is underway," Inspector Chaudhary said.
The FIR has been filed under following sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC):
Section 307 (attempt to murder)
Section 364 (Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder)
Section 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement)
Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation)
Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace)
Section 147 (punishment for rioting)
Section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon)
Section 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object)
Tribhuvan is now seeking police protection for the families of the victims.
"They should be given protection in order to avoid any kind of pressure tactics on the families of the victims. I have written to the police and the district magistrate for the same," Tribhuvan said.
(With inputs from Alim Sheikh.)
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