Ground Report: Story of Parvati Baske of Jharkhand who is waiting for justice for past five years

Parvati Baske whose husband was killed by CRPF in an alleged encounter.

Jharkhand— Parvati Baske is 38 years old and she is a resident of Dholkatta village of Giridih. Her family involves her three sons and her mother-in-law. Parvati runs a small shop near the Jain temple on the Parsnath mountain. She has to travel about fifteen kilometers every day to reach this shop, she covers most of the journey on foot.

Prior to Parvati, this shop was run by her husband Motilal Baske and along with this he also used to work as a doli laborer to carry the pilgrims to the temple up the mountain. He's also a member of a known labour union called 'Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti'.

Parvati says "On the evening of June 9, 2017, when he was on top of the mountain, CRPF personnel killed him in a faked encounter. After this encounter, there was a statement from CRPF that Motilal Baske was a "malignant Maoist".

In 2017, the BJP government was in power in Jharkhand and Raghuvar Das was the Chief Minister, then Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren condemned the incident. He even met Baske's family members and expressed confidence that he would get the incident investigated.  This matter was also a big issue in the assembly elections held in 2019. 

Baske's wife Parvati says that "Hemant became the Chief Minister as soon as the election results came out, but he immediately forgot all the promises made by him."  It has been almost 5 years in this case, but Motilal Baske's wife and her 3 children are still sitting in the hope of justice.

On the other hand, the police say that Motilal Baske was a Maoist and was living in this area by changing his name, whereas on reaching the village of Motilal Baske, it is revealed that Motilal Baske was the first beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the entire village. Even his name is still included in the current voter list.

The statement of the police has been directly denied by the villagers saying that "it is almost impossible to be a member of the CPI (Maoist) and register in the electoral rolls and take advantage of government schemes".

Parvati's son Nirmal said, "We want that there should be a CBI inquiry into this fake encounter case and those who killed our father should get the strictest punishment. I also want that one of our family member should get a job as compensation from the government so that we can feed ourselves."

Bacha Singh, General Secretary of Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti said, "In Jharkhand, the previous BJP government had wreaked havoc on the tribal-indigenous people. Under the leadership of C.M Raghuvar Das, a campaign to destroy the identity and culture of Jharkhand was initiated. Raghuvar Das amended the CNT and SPT Act and on the other hand, the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill was passed."

"Along with this, a merger of 6500 government schools took place. 210 MoUs were signed with some national and foreign companies. Numbers of tribals were killed in the name of Maoists in fake encounters. Sedition cases were filed against thousands of activists, students, and journalists, and around half a dozen registered trade union committees were banned and now that the state government has changed and Hemant Soren has become the Chief Minister, even then the situation in the state has not Changed," he adds.

On 15 November 2021, the state of Jharkhand celebrated 21 years of its establishment. In these twenty-one years, the newly made state saw numerous political upheavals. Oppression of tribals under governmental oversight and exploitation of land, minerals and other natural resources, led the state to the muddle of unemployment, illiteracy, and migration.

In view of the contemporary circumstances of Jharkhand, efforts are being made to carry all of the agitating forces of the state on one platform; That'll work as a pressure group in order that the united voice of the belligerent humans of Jharkhand may be heard via means of the Central and State Governments. They named the organization Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha.

So far, about twenty such organizations have announced coming together on this front and the remarkable thing is that none of these organizations is political or affiliated with any political party. The Names of some organizations areMazdoorSangathanSamiti, Jharkhand KrantikariMazdoor Union, Aadivasi Moolnivasi Vikash Manch, Vishthapit Sajha Manch, Bhartiya Aadim Janjati Parishad, Mehnatkash Mahila Sangharsh Samiti, Sanyukt Gramsabha Manch etc.

Representatives from organizations like BhartiyaKisan Union Krantikari, and People's Artist Forum also expressed their solidarity with the newly made front.

Meanwhile, Surjeet Singh Phul, the Panjab state president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) said, "We farmers are not only fighting against the anti farmers strategies of the state, but we're also fighting against all the anti-people laws, and burglary policies of the government. Whether it is about CAA or laxity in labour laws, the present government has committed atrocities against the poor. After coming to Jharkhand and talking to the people here, we came to know that the Jharkhand state government is inordinately functioning against the workers, farmers, tribals and women. We promise the people of Jharkhand that we are with them in every step of this fight."

The members of Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha have passed 52 demands which they put before the state and central government.  Some of the main demands are as follows :

1. Get a high-level inquiry into the fake encounter case of DolilabourMotilalBaske (9 June 2017, Giridih) and Raghunath Munda (28 November 2019, Seraikela-Kharsawan).

2. Restore all labour laws of laborers and 4 labor codes will not work

3. Immediately unconditionally release all human rights activists.

4. Stop the process of NRC, CAA, and NPR.

5. Stop privatization of public sector companies.

6. Withdraw all the cases filed under the Pathalgadi movement immediately and cancel the sedition case against the rural people and intellectuals during this period.

7. Prohibit the construction of new CRPF camps in rural areas and also remove old camps from those areas.

8. The 20.58 lakh acres of land deposited in the land bank by the Raghuvar Das government should be distributed among the landless farmers, who are forced to cultivate the land of others.

9.  Stop the arrest of tribal-indigenous people in the name of Maoists.

10. Release the innocent tribal-indigenous people imprisoned immediately.

11. Make strict laws against mob lynching.

12. Strictly implement CNT and SPT Act.

13. Make Journalist Protection Law

14. Stop privatization of education. The availability of teachers should be ensured in all the schools according to the set standards and arrangements should be made for training etc.

Professor Rajni Murmu, one of the conveners of the front said, "Trafficking and witch-hunting of tribal women is not a new scenario in Jharkhand. Not a single government has taken any special action against it. We demand that not only tribal women but the safety of every woman of the country should be ensured."

Taking Rajni's words forward, Rishit, another member of the front and research scholar said, "Capitalism is growing in the name of development all over the state. The government is looting the land by collaborating with the capitalists, due to which the villagers have to migrate to the cities. During the pandemic, the government should have provided employment to the people, but contrary our workers are facing the brunt of unemployment. With all these questions, we request the people of Jharkhand to raise these questions in front of the state."

Amidst all this, the question here arises, whether the newly formed organization will act as a ray of hope for ParvatiBaske and other indigenous people of Jharkhand.

(The writer is an independent journalist and a student at Delhi University.)