Subjected to repeated atrocities and discrimination by the dominant caste, Dalits of Gurgaon’s Chakkarpur village are on a warpath. They are angry and this time they’re determined to not suffer in silence.

Their anger reached a tipping point when a friendly Independence Day kabaddi tournament, organised last Monday, turned ugly. The fact that this ‘friendly match’ was fought between teams divided along caste lines was perhaps a precursor to what followed. It was all fine for the first 10 matches. But towards the end of the 11^th match, when it was certain that the Dalit team was winning against the Yadavs, who are the dominant caste and technically fall in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) territory, the latter reacted by beating up members of the Dalit team. Even a nine-year-old Dalit boy, who tried to save his father and uncle, was not spared.

When Newslaundry went to Chakkarpur, we were informed that this is not the first incident of Dalits in the village being beaten up for, well, doing better than the dominant caste. However, this is indeed the first time that they have filed a police complaint and are refusing to compromise.

Why the FIR is unprecedented

A First Information Report has been filed at Gurgaon’s Sector 29 police station under sections 147, 149, 323, 325 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. These sections relate to rioting, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and criminal intimidation. Sections 25, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act, and sections 3, 33 and 89 of the SC/ST Act have also been applied.

This video of the incident, made available to Newslaundry, shows how the match devolved into a fight when the score was 32-1.

In the middle of the kabaddi match, a spectator lunged at a member of the Dalit team, hitting him with a chappal. After this, eyewitnesses say, chaos descended upon the playing field. “The local Yadavs from the village [Chakkarpur] joined the man in the video and after a point, even the Yadavs of the visiting joined the hungama,” said Vijender, who is one of the Dalit spectators who got caught in the violence. As people from the audience joined the Yadav kabaddi players in the fight, the Dalits were quickly outnumbered. Vijender saw his brother, Yogender, who is one of the members of the Dalit team, being beaten up. He tried to save him. Both brothers are now in hospital, because of the injuries they sustained. Vijender has head injuries and Yogender’s arm has been broken. Bittu Singh, another player in the Dalit team, remembers the Yadavs used iron rods, sticks and chairs. “At the end, they also threatened with a katta (country-made pistols),” he said.

For the Dalits of Chakkarpur, being assaulted like this when by the dominant Yadavs is almost a regular feature.

“During Janmashtami in 2015, boys from our community formed a pyramid, and broke the Dahihandi, even before the Yadavs could reach it. As a result, they closed the temple gates, and bashed them up,” said 20-year-old Harish, who is a student, and an eyewitness at the kabaddi match. This year, during Kanwar Yatra, when Dalit pilgrims reached to collect the ‘holy’ water before the dominant caste men, they were beaten up. “It happens every three months,” said 45-year-old Naresh Singh, who runs a small business in Gurgaon and is a resident of Ambedkar Colony in Chakkarpur.

When asked why they did not go to the police then, he said, “Elders from the Yadav community came to us, and pressed for a samjhauta (compromise). They said the young boys got carried away, and being fellow villagers, it would be detrimental for peace in the village, if we go to the cops.” It’s been the same explanation each time such an incident has taken place. At the panchayat, the Yadav elders have apologised and dismissed the violence by describing it as a trivial affair that should be brushed aside.

“They said they are young, hot-blooded, let it pass. Why go to police?” said, 60-year-old Rajpal, Yogender and Vijender’s father.

This time, though, the Dalits of Chakkarpur have decided that they will not back down. Rajpal said that the Yadavs asked for a compromise this time, but the Dalits refused. The FIR that has been filed may be against eight Yadavs, but the rage is directed at the entire dominant caste community. “Every three or four months, there is something or the other that happens,” said one Dalit woman who didn’t give her name. “Sometimes, they cut electricity lines of street lights leading to Ambedkar Colony, or damage our water supply lines. Sometimes their women enter our homes, and beat up our women on the slightest pretext. You may look at them as stray incidents, but this is how we live.”

The ingrained prejudice is evident from the fact that Ambedkar Colony is referred to as “chamarpatti“.

‘No caste angle’

Despite the accounts of eyewitnesses and the FIR, area councillor Anil Yadav – who is also a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member – flatly denies that caste had anything to do with the kabaddi brawl.

“You see, at times, brawls do take place in sports,” Yadav told Newslaundry. “There is no need to give it a caste angle. If two people are fighting, and if they belong to different castes, will you look at the incident as a fight, or a caste-based attack?” When we asked Yadav about the allegations of systematic caste prejudice in Chakkarpur, he said, “There have never been any such incidents. There is complete brotherhood in the village.”

Yadav’s statement echoes what the upper caste of Chakkarpur feel. For them, the fight was just ‘boys’ going overboard in the heat of the moment. “Khel khel mein ho jaata hain. Jaatiwaad ka naam dena toh siyasat hogi,(Such things happen in sports. Calling it casteism would amount to politicising it),” said 62-year old Surajpal Yadav, who runs a grocery shop.

Dismissing the brawl, 36-year-old Ramlal Yadav, who runs a small transport business in Gurgaon, asked, “Are we now going to probe the caste angle even when children fight?” When asked if he believes that Dalits should opt for a ‘compromise’, he said that that would be “in the interest of peace”.

Newslaundry tried to get in touch with the eight accused – Kapil, Rajpal, Pankaj, Ankush, Sahil, Amit, Deepak and Naveen – but they were not to be found. Their family members said they were out on work, while the Dalits allege that they have been smuggled out of Chakkarpur to evade arrest. When we approached their family members, they refused to speak.

Assistant Sub-Inpector Kanwar Singh, of Gurgaon’s Sector-29 police station, the investigating officer in the case, said, “We are closely looking into the case, though we are yet to make any arrests.” He was also noncommittal on the issue of whether this violence should be described as a caste atrocity. “The facts of the matter are that players from past castes were involved in the fight. A total of 12 have been injured. Amongst those injured are also upper caste men, along with harijans.” On paper, the breakup is neatly equal: six Yadavs and six Dalits have been hospitalised because of their injuries.

However, that’s where the sense of equality ends too. The tension in Chakkarpur is palpable, with a police van stationed in Ambedkar Colony ever since August 15. It hasn’t comforted those whose children were hurt and neither is it calming the Dalit community’s rage. Sitting in a huddle, Dalit elders can be seen strategising over how best to not let this incident slip by, as they have in the past.

“If the police fails to arrest even one person by the end of RakshaBandhan, we will block traffic on MG Road on Friday. This is the only way left to get the authorities’ attention,” said one elderly man. There seems to be a resoluteness among the Dalits that they will not withdraw the FIR, no matter what the consequences.

When we asked Vijender if he fears revenge attacks if the FIR is not withdrawn, he said it was possible. “Haan, woh ho sakta hain,” he said. “Lekin waise bhi kahaan shaanti hain?” (It is possible. But is there peace even otherwise?)