When Rape of a Child is Celebrated by Jat Panchayat: Mohali Jat Panchayat Case

Mohali is a tiny village in naxal affected Dhanora taluka in district Gadchiroli. When the news of a girl child being raped by 40 year old Anil Maravi appeared in newspaper We 4 Change probed into the matter and found some irregularities. In order to find the truth a fact finding committee comprising Dr. Rashmi Paraskar, Prof. Deepali Meshram and Jitendra Shrirame visited the village Mohali.

What the Fact Finding Committee found was shocking. A 9 year old girl belonging to a PVTG tribal group was raped by her community member Anil Madavi on 17 January 2018. When her mother came to know about the heinous crime, her parents went to the members of Jat Panchayat happened to be the members Gram Panchayat, holding prominent positions like Sarpanch and Upa-Sarpanch. Rather than asking the parents to go to the police station the Jat Panchayat members called for a meeting on 18 January 2018. The Jat Panchayat punished Anil Madavi by asking him to feed a feast of mutton to all community and providing aid to the victim of ₹ 12000 for her medical treatment. The community
enjoy the feast whereas the girl was suffering through terrible pain in her hut.

After the feast when the victims mother went to the rapist to ask for money for medical treatment, Anil denied bluntly. Hapless mother launched a police complaint and Anil Madavi was arrested. The furious Jaat panchayat outcasted the victim and the family faced social boycott. When the Fact Finding Committee led by Dr. Rashmk Paraskar and Prof. Deepali Meshram met the Jat Panchayat members they admitted what they did. The video recording is still available with We 4 Change and submitted to the court as evidence. The matter is still in the court.

When the heinous truth of the Jat Panchayat came into light the people in Maharashtra state were in shock and strong reactions came from the activists, politicians and the people of Maharashtra. The Madia Gond seemed to pit tradition against democratic values and Human Rights against dogged customs.

What We 4 Change found is that mere passing a law and taking police action is not sufficient, counselling of the communities, launching a campaign to establish democratic values is the need of the hour.

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