Over the last few months, the innards of Dalit oppression in Gujarat have been spilled open all over the state and its stink has travelled far and wide.

Vashram Sarvaiya and his three brothers were flogged by gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes) in Saurashtra’s Una Taluka on July 11 for skinning a cow. This was later proven to be baseless and the police complicit in the lie. Soon, rallies and protest marches took the shape of the ten-day long Dalit Asmita Yatra which concluded at Una on August 15. There, the community vowed to abandon the profession of skinning carcasses.

On the day of the flogging, a gang of cow vigilantes, who had started from Una taluka, were joined by another group of workers from Samter village – based on the bank of Raval river. Neither the gau rakshaks nor the Dalits from the village could recall who exactly started the rumour about the “skinning” of cows in Mota Samdhiyala. However, they do remember that when the cow vigilantes from Una reached Samter, people from nearby Vyajpur and Nantej village were already part of the mob. This means not only Samter but other villages too were mobilised for action.

The mob headed straight to the tannery between Mota Samadhiyala and Bedia. The clash, and resulting riots triggered the Dalit rights movement across Gujarat.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which took over the investigation of the flogging from the Gujarat Police, found that police officials involved in the case had fudged facts. They also found the unholy nexus between the gau rakshaks and the police. Forty three accused, including four policemen, have been arrested. While the Sarvaiya family has identified all 39 of the accused involved in the flogging, families of the accused have a differing variation of the events.

Sarvaiya family still awaits justice

Vashram, his younger brother Ramesh (23), and his two cousins Ashok (20) and Bechar (30) were skinning carcases in the village tannery when they were apprehended by gau rakshaks. His father Balubhai Sarvaiya said, that the attack continued for more than an hour, and the numbers of assaulters and witnesses kept increasing.

“We were even beaten up by the cow vigilantes inside the police station,” Vashram told Newslaundry. He added, “we have identified all 39 accused who were involved in the flogging…I am yet to get justice.”

Sustenance remains a concern as the Sarvaiyas are yet to find a an alternate way to earn a living. Currently, the entire family is solely dependent on the compensatory money that they received from the government and support from the community.

While Vashram is focused on the CID investigation, his father Balubhai is eyeing the ongoing Dalit movement. “Till the government create job opportunities for Dalit boys and we get land, the movement must go on. It’s for the good of our community,” said Balubhai.

Version of families of those arrested

Youth from Samter joined the gau rakshaks on the day of flogging. Later, on August 15 people from Samter allegedly stone-pelted Dalit protestors who were returning from the Una Dalit Ashmita Yatra.

Over ten of the accused involved in flogging, identified by the Sarvaiyas, are from Samter. “There were two Dalits youths too who were involved in beating that day. Police didn’t arrest them,” Balubhai Gohel told Newslaundry. According to the families of those arrested, the investigative agency has been unfair to them.

While those like Vipul Yadav claim that his brother was wrongly picked by the police, others argue that everyone present the venue had thrashed the “perpetrators” so why pick a handful. They are still firm on their stand, that is, Sarvaiyas had killed cow – a myth which has been already busted by the CID.

Meanwhile, the political analysts sitting in Delhi speculate that the movement might thwart the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 assembly election in Gujarat. The handfull of upper caste villagers that we spoke to, on asked about the Dalit movement reply “Ye sab raj karan se ho raha hai (These are politically motivated movement).” A few have even declared the movement an attack by the the BJP’s political opposition.