Una Dalit atrocity case: Veraval court orders day-to-day trial

Even as the family of Balubhai Sarvaiya who was attacked along with his family, relatives and neighbour by self-proclaimed gau-rakshaks on July 11, 2016, waits with bated breath to see if justice in their case would be fast-tracked, the Veraval Special Atrocity Court on Monday decided to hear the case on a day-to-day basis for the next 90 days.

This comes as a huge relief to the families of victims in the watershed case of Dalit atrocity that put the spotlight on the condition of the community across the nation.

Vasram Sarvaiya filed a plea on June 21 through Advocate Govind Parmar, seeking day-to-day trial in the case. The first of these hearings will begin on July 29.

The victims said the case has been dragging on since trial began on August 3, 2018, with only 37 of more than 300 witnesses examined in 11 hearings at the court till June 21, 2019. There were also fears the case would fizzle out with the accused getting bail. The victims too fear more attacks by them. This is not without cause as two members of the family were allegedly attacked by Kiransinh Darbar, an accused who was out on bail, just days before the family’s conversion to Buddhism in April 2018.

Successful appeal for day-to-day trial

Arguments made on June 21 may have convinced the special atrocity court to hold regular hearings, said advocate Govind Parmar, appearing on behalf of the victims. This, despite public prosecutor Yadav stating the Veraval special atrocity court was not exclusive to this trial and had to hear other atrocity cases as well. Defence lawyers argued that a day-to-day trial would be very hard on the accused as they had to travel from Una to Veraval and could not afford the costs of doing that.

Status of the case

Advocate Parmar said that while the attack had taken place on July 16, 2016 and the case transferred from Una to Veraval court on April 13, 2018, the charges had been framed only on July 27, 2018. There are over 300 witnesses and Parmar argued that if the trial proceeded at the pace of two hearings a month, it would take more than five years to complete it.

The Incident

On July 11, 2016, Balubhai Sarvaiya, his wife, two sons, two nephews and a neighbour had been attacked by gau-rakshaks in July 2016. The four youths were tied half-naked to a car and dragged to Una from Mota Samadhiyala village. The video of the incident had gone viral, sparking outrage and leading to their immediate arrest along with police officers and personnel in Una.

No safety, remuneration for public prosecutor

The promises made by Gujarat government to extend aid to fast-track the case have not been kept, say victims. In what could damage the ‘merits of the case’, special public prosecutor Dipendra Yadav has neither been given security nor remuneration after being appointed to the case in 2016. Yadav said, “Yes, I have to travel on my own from Junagadh to Veraval about two times a month using my own vehicle. There is no remuneration.”

On October 16, 2018, Mirror had reported on the lack of cooperation by the local police in providing security cover to the prosecutor. Minister of State (MoS) for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja had then assured intervention in the matter. But there was no change in the status of the security.

Yadav said, “I take my friends and colleagues along to Veraval whenever there is a hearing because there has been no security given to me.”