Uneasy hills

DESPITE THE BJP’S AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN IN THE TRIBAL BELT, MANY VOTERS THERE ARE ANGRY ABOUT BEING DENIED THE REAL FRUITS OF DEVELOPMENT

- NANDINI OZA

FAR AWAY FROM the huge flyovers that reflect the Gujarat growth story, in the Aravalli mountain ranges in the state’s northern tribal belt, it is a daily ritual for women to cook with firewood and fetch water from over a kilometre or two, usually twice a day. They can also be done to death by their husbands in a fit of rage. It could probably be from the delay in serving dinner or even from a husband’s desire to remarry.

“The victim’s parents would then destroy the house and the fields of the accused. Properties of people belonging to his caste or subcaste are also destroyed. The victim’s parents are accompanied by people of their caste,” said Rupabhai Ghorina of Upla Ghoda village in Banaskantha district.

The accused then has to give a compensation decided in consultation with village elders. The first instalment has to be given immediately, while the rest is given within a mutually agreed time frame. “To create pressure on the accused to pay on time, the family may not even touch the dead body for days together and may even hang it on the tree,” he said. The practice is called ‘chadoturu’. It is the local way of seeking justice.

Ghorina said that even today, when in labour pain, women are taken to the local ‘bhuva’ (a shaman) first. He spreads some grain on the floor and then divines whether it is indeed labour pain. In Panchmahals, Dahod and Chhotaudepur in central Gujarat, branding a woman a ‘witch’ continues to be a common practice. A single woman or a widow is usually an easy target.