Three lakh from Maratha community swarm Beed streets to protest

Around three lakh members from the Maratha community hit the streets in Beed on Tuesday to participate in a silent march, seeking death for the perpetrators of the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl at Khopardi village in Ahmedabad district last month.

The ‘muk morcha’ (silent march) was the fourth protest held in the state by the Maratha Kranti Morcha after similar demonstrations earlier in three other districts — Aurangabad, Osmanabad and Jalgaon. Sources said the protests, which display the community’s numerical strength, could have had the tacit support of NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Apart from awarding death to the accused persons via a fast-track court, the protesters demanded protection from “misuse of the Atrocity Act”, “reservations” for the Maratha community and “strict action” against those perpetrating atrocities against women.

On July 14, when the alleged rape occurred, the victim’s arms and legs were found chopped and her torso thrown outside her house. Her clothes were found hanging from a tree.

Beed corporator and Maratha Seva Sangh leader Subhash Sapkal said that people from all over the district, including neighbouring town of Ambejogai participated in the morcha.

“The morcha is over 3,00,000-member strong,” Mr Sapkal said.

Jijao Brigade leader Pratibha Gaikwad participated in the morcha with her toddler. “Everywhere there are people. The entire city has been filled up,” she said.

As usual, five girls read out the memorandum and presented it to the collector late afternoon. Another morcha is scheduled in Solapur on September 21, sources said.

Earlier, on August 9, the Maratha Kranti Morcha was staged in Aurangabad. On August 26, the Maratha community in Osmanabad had staged a massive morcha at the collector’s office. Sources put the number of participants at 3,00,000. On August 29, the third massive morcha was staged by all Maratha organisations in Jalgaon.

The morcha was so huge that when it reached the collector’s office, the other end was still at Jalgaon college from where it had started, about 3km away.