Internet blocked in Nashik

Villagers of Talegaon in Nashik are taking care of two women, aged 70 and 80 years, who were abandoned when Dalits fled for their lives on Saturday night fearing the fallout of the rape of a 5-year-old girl from the Maratha community in the village.

The whole of Nashik had been burning since Saturday when a minor from the Dalit community allegedly raped the girl. On Monday, some normalcy returned, but some services were unavailable.

The women were left behind, as they would have proven a hurdle for the others who were running away from the agitated villagers. However, Marathas have now started taking care of the two women. “There is no one to take care of these two elderly women, as every Dalit in the village has left. We don’t know where they have gone or when will they return and hence we decided to take care of these two women. We gave them food and water and we shall take care of them till the villagers return,” said a Maratha villager. The villagers offered the women tea, biscuits and other food.

The survivor, a resident of Adgaon in Nashik city, had recently come to Talegaon near Trimbak town. Her father is a driver and her mother a farm labourer. The accused is a class 10 student studying in the village school.

Minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar visited the survivor in hospital and enquired about her health. He assured the family and relatives that strict action would be taken against the accused. A villager confided to The Asian Age that some years ago, a quarrel took place between the villagers and the persons of the accused’s community. Later cases under the atrocity law were filed against the villagers. The cases are still going on in court. Hence after the rape, the villagers did not attack the houses of the 12-odd families but persons from other villages attacked the houses. No one was injured as the families fled the village.

The city of Nashik saw a partial shutdown with many services and utilities being unavailable such as the Internet, state transport buses, text messaging and other forms of communication. Even schools, colleges and other educational institutions remained shut.

Nashik divisional controller Yamini Joshi told The Asian Age that all buses on all routes in the city and to other districts had been stopped. “We will see the situation and then decide when to resume bus services,” she said.

The Association of Educational Institutions in Nashik had announced a day’s holiday on Monday to avoid inconveniencing students. Meanwhile, the accused was taken to the juvenile justice board, which remanded him to magistrate custody till October 23.