The attack

The Dange family was attacked after a petty dispute at their chicken shop in Aarla village on April 28. A group of men from the neighbouring village of Padali had come to a spot near Aarla for a party. They bought chicken from Hussain Dange’s shop and also requested a pot, lid, and ladle to cook the food. While returning the vessels, the ladle and lid, lent free of cost, were missing.

“The boys were completely drunk while returning the vessel. They started abusing us. My brother told them to go away,” Adil Dange said. However, the accused returned to the spot and the issue escalated. A group of men from Aarla village itself — Kedar Pargavkar, Rohit Petkar, Sahil Patil, Sumit Patil — also arrived at the scene.

Pargavkar’s Instagram page mentioned he belonged to the radical Hindu organisation Shri Shivpratishthan Hindustan led by Sambhaji Bhide. The Instagram bio mentioned RSS and his page had videos of men marching with swords. “Whenever there is any issue involving Muslims, they will arrive and add fire to the matter,” Abid said.

Abid said his brother Hussain called the police, who tried to convince the group of men to not escalate the issue. However, the group attacked Hussain Dange with a knife, grievously injuring him. He was admitted to the ICU. According to the medical report by Aadhar Healthcare Centre in Islampur, he suffered a 15 cm knife cut on his left forearm, which tore his muscle and left ulnar artery. Abid said that the police personnel present on the scene were also beaten up but did not mention it in their complaint. Abid and other members of the family were also beaten up.

Following the attack, an FIR was filed and 16 accused were arrested, according to the police. However, no attempt to murder charge (BNS 109) was included in the FIR. Abid said, “The police did not record our statement according to what we were saying. We told them that the attackers are related to Hindutvawadi groups. Names of all the accused were not added and some false names have been added to make the case weak. On May 4 after the hospital report, the attempt to murder section was added. But on the day of hearing at the local court on May 18, the section was no longer present and they got bail.”

In response, Assistant Police Inspector of Kokrud Police Station Rahul Atigre told The Indian Express, “He was in the ICU initially and the doctor told us that the artery from the heart to the hand has been cut. I felt that he could die that is why we immediately added the section. When we sent the chargesheet after taking the doctor’s opinion, we removed section 109 and added section 326 (Mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance, etc). There was no attack to his vital body parts, the attack on his hands was grievous.” Atigre said he had no information about the accused being members of Shivpratishthan.

Abid further said, “After they got bail, they had a grand celebration in the village. They took out a rally, burst firecrackers, and danced to DJ music. Their pooja was conducted in the middle of the street. The one who had attacked us with the knife was bathed in milk. A Rs 12,000 goat was cut in the evening for a party. Is there any democracy left in this country? Is the Constitution still there? This question has now arisen. If culprits are given such treatment, where are we supposed to go? We have to run from pillar to post for justice but have got no response from anywhere.”

A counter-case was also filed against Abid’s nephew. Atigre said, “One of their boys drove his car extremely fast into the crowd, that 20-25 people could have died. And he reversed the car as well. It was a stunt.” Abid claims his nephew drove the car into the crowd to save Abid as he was being beaten. The accused attacked and damaged the car as well.

Atigre said the accused “are from farming families and not criminals. They are not thieves or rioters.” He added, “There is a video of the crime, we have arrested the accused and applied the sections. If there are any additional accused we will arrest them and send a chargesheet ahead.”

March interrupted

Abid said that after losing hope, the families decided to leave the village and sit down in front of the High Court to protest. “Us eight-nine families took all our luggage and left the village to go to Kolhapur on June 7. We were stopped after 10-12 kms and not allowed to go forward.”

Shakil Tamboli, an activist helping the Dange family, said district and police authorities intercepted their march and agreed to resolve the issues. They phoned the Superintendent of Police and Abid spoke to them. In order for an impartial investigation to be conducted, the family has demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) is formed, the IO changed, action is taken against Kokrud police, an investigation is conducted into the mastermind behind the incident, inclusion of sections like BNS 109 and 103(2), dismissing the ‘fake case’ filed against the family, and action to cancel bail of all the accused.

Atigre said that Dy SP Vipul Patil had now been assigned as the IO of the case. However when contacted, Patil said he had not gotten any official letter to that effect. Following a complaint sent by Dange, the Public Grievance Cell of the Bombay High Court at Kolhapur also wrote to the Sangli Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi to look into the matter. Doshi did not respond to calls by The Indian Express for a comment.

Now, a petition to cancel the accused’s bails has been filed at Islampur District Court by Abid.

Abid said they had not gotten any update on the case yet and will march to the High Court again next week.

Shivpratishthan Hindustan
Reacting to the case, Nilesh Awate, Secretary of Shivpratishthan Hindustan Shirala Taluka, told The Indian Express that the organisation stood with the accused. “As Shivpratishthan, we are always with them. Whenever there is any issue from the perspective of Hindu dharm or to spread our organisation, we are always with them. Kedar is an activist of Shivpratishthan,” he said.