For this dalit family in Pune, fear follows shame as law fails it

Sunil Pawale and his family were all over the media in March. Newspaper headlines screamed at how he was made to eat faeces by his employer because he had argued with him. Pawale and his family did not have a healthy employee-employer relationship with their tormentor. They were modern-day slaves earning ₹100 a day at a brick kiln near Pune. More than a month later, it’s business as usual at the brick kiln. The family lives some 10 km away, fearful that the powerful perpetrator is free to attack them. The brick kiln continues to operate and everyone else working there is resigned to their fate.

The powerful are on the right side of law

Pawale and his parents worked at a brick kiln in Jambhe village near Hinjawadi, a suburb in Pune, for five years. Pawale distinctly recalls March 13, when the 22-year-old was forced to eat faeces by Sandip Pawar, the kiln owner.

Narrating what happened that day, Sunil told The Federal, “On March 13, my parents and I were sitting in front of the house after lunch. Pawar came over and asked why we were not working. My father told him we had just eaten and would start working soon. He got angry and started to verbally abuse my father. I tried to pacify him by apologising but he abused my mother too and then began to assault my father. I couldn’t control myself at this point; I verbally abused him and ran away.”

An infuriated Pawar, not used to being spoken back to, sent his nephew after Pawale who got him back to the kiln. Pawale shudders as he recalls what happened next. “Pawar, in front of all the labourers at the kiln, asked me to either sleep with my mother or eat faeces. He ordered his wife Deepa to bring the faeces. Seeing her reluctance, he abused her too.” Pawar, who operates the kiln from October to June every year, made sure Pawale ate the faeces in front of everyone.

The family, disturbed and fearful, left the kiln and went to a relative’s house in Thergaon. The next day, Pawale decided to file an FIR at the Hinjawadi Police Station. Yashawant Gawari, senior police inspector, Hinjawadi Police Station, says, “We have invoked the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Indian Penal Code (IPC) 506 for criminal intimidation, IPC 504 for provocation to breach peace, and IPC 323 for causing hurt, against Pawar and arrested him on the same day.” He was in police custody for four days but got bail soon after. Now, he walks a free man.

Pawale and his family, including his grandparents Malan and Baburao, currently stay in a two-room house with a relative. They are unsure of how they should proceed now since Hinjawadi has been their home for years. Originally from Bhum in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra, the family has been in Pune for over 10 years.

Pawale points out, “Pawar is a powerful man in this area. Since he got bail, we are scared he may attack us. At the slightest sound of a vehicle or people approaching, we get scared.” When activists met the family, they were not willing to trust anyone.

Nilesh Waghmare, social activist, said, “The family was petrified. After we counselled them for many hours, they started to talk. Social activists and many from the community held a one-day strike in front of the collector’s office in Pune on April 12. We gave a letter with our demands to the collector.”

Prabhakar Sonawane, of Purogami Paksha Sanghatana Sanyukta Kruti Samiti, an organisation that went on strike, listed their demands: “The bail of the accused should be cancelled looking at the intensity of the crime. A special public prosecutor should be appointed to fight the case. We want the government to give financial aid to the family and they should be rehabilitated.” Yet, no further action has been taken.

The Pawale family aren’t the only migrant labourers who worked at Pawar’s kiln. In fact, all the labourers are migrants from other districts or states and are of scheduled castes. None of them are ready to speak about the incident and claim they were working at another side of the premises when the incident took place. While no one else had any complaints against Pawar, the conditions in which the labourers live in speak for themselves.

Where silence is a survival tactic

The sun is blazing as Savita Kambale (name changed) sits at a chulha to cook in front of the 10×10 ft room with no windows that she and her family call their home. She says that five families stay in rooms provided by the owner. Each family, with three to four members, works from 6 am to 12 noon and later from 2 pm to 6 pm every day from October to June. “I, my daughter and her husband are paid ₹100 each,” she says. Everyone gets ₹100 for working 10 hours a day. All the families get water for drinking and regular usage from a well that is nearby. And they share one make-shift bathroom made using a sari.

Savita, who is originally from Nanded in Maharashtra, migrated to Pune many years ago and stays at Pimpri, another suburb of Pune. When she is not working at the kiln, she works at construction sites in Pimpri.

Nobody from the five families was ready to talk about the incident. Savita says, “I was working beyond the heap of bricks and was not aware of the incident. We heard that something happened but did not enquire. The police visited us and asked many questions… We don’t want to lose our jobs so we chose to stay away from all the problems.”

Another youngster who, along with his parents, stays and works there, said, “I was working on the other side of the kiln and I am not aware of it (the incident).” He is from Jalana district of Maharashtra and migrated to work at brick kiln for eight months. His family took a loan of ₹35,000 before starting work in October.