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*A protest against Khairlanji that never was...* Please come in large numbers and wear black on 9th August 2010 at 4 pm at Churchgate station. The protest was against the High Court judgement to demand action from the State against the three crimes in Khairlanji : caste violence, sexual violence and against officials of the state for neglect of their duty (state violence). The plan was to stand in protest as women’s groups and others involved in the struggle against atrocities on Dalits. We had a few placards made, a banner or two and some leaflets. The idea was to of course protest against the way the state government was mishandling the case but also to communicate through leaflets with the general public that frequents the train stations, the ordinary commuter. The call was sent out through the web, through press releases and individual calls and of course word of mouth. We were not expecting a very large gathering at 4 pm on a working Monday evening. We were all there having taken half day leave from our jobs and work because we felt that we needed to take a stand against the shoddy manner in which the horrendous violence at Khairlanji was being treated by a callous state. We are groups that are aware of the reduced space for protests in this city of ours which has seen unprecedented action on its streets in the last sixty and more years of “independence” (forget about the large struggles of the freedom movement and also the trade unions and others before this). The streets are no longer allowed for protests. We have experienced this for the last decade or so for every protest that we have tried – against the police violence on women, against the slum demolitions, for the queer marches that we have been organising, for celebrations of 8th March... We have taken to more stationary protests so that we “do not inconvenience that ubiquitous common ‘man’ of Mumbai who only seems to get disturbed by those protesting on the streets and creating traffic snarls”. Not wanting to have to fight with this every time and to avoid the herculean task of getting police permissions, we now usually have small protests at railway stations and other public places where we can meet the ordinary citizens of this city. Every time we have stood and given out leaflets we have been impressed by the number of people wanting to know what we are talking about, eager to engage in dialogue and taking off that minute to take the leaflet, read our placards, maybe carry that conversation with them to their trains, offices and homes. The “common” person that we met on the street has never told us to get off the street. They may not have agreed with us every time but they have understood this manner of communication. As far as the police goes, we have found that we have been able to negotiate with them in spite of all the orders “against unlawful assembly” and do these demonstrations for various causes. An hour of two of leafleting, sloganeering has been done on these streets for the last year and more on causes as diverse as against the AFSPA, against the salwa judum, against the rising violence against Dalit women, against the industries like POSCO and their destruction of natural resources... We have marched with pride in queer azaadi marches (with permission obtained after a lot of grief), we have continued with our celebration of struggles and protests against exploitation. We have not got permissions every time but the policemen have been there before us many times. It was in this same spirit that we were organising this protest against the Khairlanji judgement, more a protest against the State than the court really. So what happened with us on 9th August was totally unexpected and shocking. At 4 pm there were very few of us inside the railway station. It was raining outside and we decided to wait inside. Also we had noticed the heavy police bandobast outside and the presence of the khaki all over. We were also aware of the constant phone calls that the police were making to some of the senior activists from whom they had got information about the protest under fake identities. (They also got the person’s address from her acting as if it was a Dalit activist wanting to meet her)! We knew that the police meant business on 9th August. As we waited we were constantly approached by some of them in plain clothes and in uniform asking us what our programme there was. We denied any program for some while and waited for more numbers to gather before we started the protest. We were noticeable and they followed us around the station but could not do anything else. Suddenly at around half past four someone came from outside the station and told us that there are some people detained in a police van outside the station. They were just waiting outside the station, were not even wearing black (the code for the protest, except for one wearing a burkha!), had no placards or leaflets, were pleading that they were just standing there for their friends and they were forcibly put in vans. Those of us who tried to go out of the station to talk to them were also immediately threatened with being put in the same van. We quickly convened, a group of some thirty five women of all ages and from different groups and organisations and individuals and decided that there was no point in getting out for a protest against Khairlanji because it would only mean losing our posters and leaflets. We needed to protest against the wrongful detention of these women but before we could decide our next step we saw the van being driven away. We followed in cabs constantly being harassed by the police as we were trying to get out of the station with some of them insisting that we should take trains and leave! So at 5 pm there were about thirty of us, the nine women, and three lawyers at the Azad Maidan police station. Rude behaviour continued. Lots of yelling and screaming later we were told by some policeman there that they will be released only after Dr. Dorjee the DCP of the zone asks the police station to leave them. The DCP, when we met him, was very cordial and firm in telling us that they had intelligence information on the protest and they had picked up these women to avoid the protest from happening as there were strict orders to not let the protest from taking place. As to why these women were picked up and not the others, there was no reply that he had other than that there must be some reason. We were told, “Since none of you were there with them you do not know what happened”. He said that they had to make sure that the protest did not happen; they could not wait for it to begin before stopping it. He sent us to his junior Mr Marathe to get more details as to why they were detained. The officer was much ruder and showed his true colours. He waited for us to tell him who we were and his only answer to our queries about why they were detained was that there was some intelligence input and if we thought that the police were wrong we should go to court. The whole attitude all along from the police was very clear. The protest cannot happen and we have a right to pick up who we think is going to join in it and not give any reasons for it. By now it was 6 pm (the announced end time of the protest). All the people who could only join in late had also come in by then and we were about 60 to 70 people at the police station. The nine women were left with no charges filed and as one of them said feeling very sad that they were arrested for just standing not even for shouting slogans or actually demonstrating. We left from there with our protest totally scuttled and a lot of time wasted. We shall continue to protest but there are some questions that we do not have answers to. Is it because it was Khairlanji that the state was so vehement in not letting us protest? Or is this to be the scene in the streets of Mumbai more and more? An affirmative answer to both or either of these questions is extremely unsettling. On the one hand are questions like: Is the state becoming so set in its upper caste coterie that it can blatantly side against the marginalised castes and continue to show its total disregard against all caste based violence and discrimination? Under the garb of saying that this is a very politicised issue is the state not showing its true Brahminical colours? Not allowing dissent against the state’s handling of cases of acute violence is continued state violence against its marginalised citizens. This needs a loud and strong reply and protest from each and every citizen of this country. And if this is how this democratic country continues to deal with protests then we need to protest even louder. For what is democracy if it does not even allow space for dissent and expression of it? What is the meaning of living in a ‘modern’ metropolis if there are no ways in which we can talk of issues with each other, on public platforms, in a public manner, in ways which suit our pace and life? What is an elected democracy if it does not have a culture of protest? *Chayanika. 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