Rethal dalit murder accused bailed out

Roxy Gagdekar

Family members of Atul Rathod, a dalit youth killed in Rethal village of Sanand taluka allegedly by some forward caste people, are thinking of moving the Gujarat high court against the bail granted to five accused in the case.

"We have no faith in the police investigation. It is full of loopholes and that is why the accused have managed to secure bail," said Atul's uncle, Valjibhai Rathod, who was almost shouting when he spoke. It may be recalled that angry protestors had kept Atul's body at Sanand police station for over 24 hours.

"Out of eight accused in the case, five have been able to get bail because of flaws in the police investigation," said Valjibhai.

He further said that the accused had secured bail at different times. "One by one, five of them have come out of jail," he said.

Atul Rathod's murder had sparked a violent agitation by dalits of Rethal village on January 25, 2012. Atul and his brothers were attacked by a group of people and the youth was killed on the spot. Angry dalits had taken his body and placed it at the Sanand police station in protest against police failure to prevent atrocities.

"All our efforts to get a police complaint filed in the case have been wasted as the police have changed the line of investigation. In fact, they have also recorded the statement of mentally stressed people," alleged Khodabhai Rathod, another relative of the deceased youth.

Khodabhai said the police had recorded the statement of one Ishwarbhai Rathod, who was seriously injured in the incident.

"The doctors had said that his statement should not be recorded for six months as he forgets many things," he said.

On the other hand, the police insist that there was no fault in their investigation of the case. "The investigation is flawless. We have submitted the chargesheet against the accused within normal time," said RC Pathak, deputy superintendent of police, Ahmedabad (rural), who is also the investigating officer of the case.

[Courtesy: DNA, July 11, 2012]