Dalit women who lodged harassment case dies mysteriously in MP’s Sagar

A Dalit woman, Anjana Ahirwar, faced severe backlash after accusing four upper-caste men of molestation in her village. Her brother and uncle were killed, and she died under mysterious circumstances.

A Dalit woman accused four men in her village of molestation and faced a backlash that resulted in her brother and uncle being killed. She died under mysterious circumstances on Sunday, capping a saga of alleged caste harassment and retribution.

Anjana Ahirwar, 24, filed a complaint in August 2023 accusing four upper-caste men of molesting her in Barodia Nonagir village. The aftermath was brutal – her brother Nitin was beaten to death, her mother was disrobed in public, and the family faced relentless pressure to withdraw the case.

On Saturday night, her uncle Rajendra Ahirwar, the key eyewitness against the accused, was killed by a mob. Just a day later, as Anjana accompanied Rajendra’s body for the final rites, she fell off the ambulance and died.

Anjana’s brother asked reporters how someone died in the ambulance during a road mishap and why the ambulance took an unusual route.

What happened? How did the car have an accident? It was going well, how did it fall suddenly? If you had to take her, you should have gone to Jhaladi. Who knows where she was going, what was the old matter with uncle for minutes, whom was he taking with him, there was testimony, he called him and killed him and what did he do with our sister? What is Raj doing, with whom the jokes are going on? It had happened, there was a talk, from this it seemed that she might commit suicide, there was nothing like that,” he said.

Lokesh Sinha, ASP Sagar District, stated the matter is under investigation and the full facts are yet to emerge. “This double case happened yesterday in Gaya police station area where a dispute took place between two people at night,” he said.

“We have initiated that the postmortem here, the four-wheeler was being taken where the incident happened today. The police was carrying the dead body and this woman was sitting. In this incident, the woman died after falling from the vehicle,” Sinha added.

“We’re investigating to determine the circumstances and pressure behind the incident, then collecting witness statements and evidence,” he stated.

Police registered a case, but opposition leaders alleged a collapse of law and order that emboldened the perpetrators.

“Rajendra Ahirwar was attacked by five people pressuring him to compromise on an old case. Seriously injured, he died while being taken to Bhopal for treatment,” claimed Jitu Patwari, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief.

“Anjana’s brother was publicly murdered in Barodia Nonagir in August and her family is still awaiting justice. The law and order has deteriorated under CM Mohan Yadav, who holds the home portfolio,” Patwari said.

When the harassment complaint made headlines in August 2023, leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge and Digvijay Singh demanded action. Police arrested 9 men under the SC/ST Act, but the victim’s family alleges they faced pressure to withdraw the case.

Courtesy : Ground Report

Note: This news is originally published in groundreport.com and was used solely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.