Rajesh Sondarva

Gujarat

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on July 04, 2019 regarding the murder of Dalit RTI Activist Nanji Sondarva’s son in Gujarat.

On May 22, 2019 Mr. Rajesh Sondarva was intercepted by a group of upper-caste Kshatriya men while he was returning home from Rajkot city and was hacked to death. Mr. Sondarva’s father Mr. Nanji Sondarvawas a Dalit RTI activist was also murdered by a group of men from Kshatriya community on March 09, 2018, after he alleged corruption in development projects in Manekvada village and sought details of criminal antecedents of the accused. Police had booked persons at the Manekvada for Mr. Nanji Sondarva’s murder and arrested all of them, however, the Gujarat High Court had granted them bail. Mr. Sondarva noticed that one Mr. Jitendrasinh Chandubha accused of murdering his father was roaming freely in his village, despite having secured bail on the condition that he would not enter the district. Hence, Mr. Sondarva moved the court for cancelling the bail and was not ready for a compromise in old cases when approached by the perpetrators. Same people have been arrested on both murder cases and the accused persons had been trying to force other Dalits in the village to strike truce with them to withdraw the cases against them under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but did not succeed.

HRDA has prayed for immediate and impartial investigation into the murder of both Mr. Nanji Sondarva and his son Mr. Sondarva.