“Run! The Police are coming! Run!”
The entire village was alarmed with the news of police coming to their village yet again. Dandakaranya is not new to the police raids. Still, every time the police enter any village, the villagers, including the babies, are afraid of their arrival and the baggage of humiliation, abuse, and harassment that comes with them.
The moment these words fell in the ears of the people, all those who are capable of running, began running frantically.
The women, men, and children just reached their homes from the farm work. The cooking just began in all the homes. By then, most of them are hungry from a hard day of work because of which they would have started gulping down the food quickly in a short while. But this is not one of those days. The daily routine in the village is disturbed today. Not just today, but for years and not just in this village but in all the neighboring several villages, the daily routine is frequently disturbed by the police forces.
Mangli immediately ran to the cradle in her tiny hut’s veranda. She did not know what to do. She thought that may be her husband ran from the brook where he went to take a shower. But she was fearful and confused about how to run with a three-month old baby. On top of that, the baby had a fever since the day before. Meanwhile, she saw her mother-in-law, Sanki, approaching the house with a pot of water on her head.
With the heavy water pot still on her head, Sanki asked apprehensively, “Did Lalu come back home?”
“No, he did not. He must have run from the brook itself.”
Before she could feel relaxed that may be her sun escaped the wrath of police, Sanki started to worry about her daughter-in-law. “How will you manage then?” she asked with concern.
“I don’t know. Where do I run with a sick, three-month old now?” helplessness reflected in her voice.
Not knowing what to say and do, Sanki looked around to find some solution. The fear of police abusing her young daughter-in-law if she remains at home made her feel restless. But if she goes to the forest with the fever-ridden baby, what if both are stuck in some thunderstorm and that worsened the baby’s fever?
The sounds of police scolding, beating around, and shouting reached their ears. There’s no chance of taking a considered decision now. Sanki grabbed her granddaughter and placed her in the arms of her daughter-in-law and signaled that she sit silently when the police arrive at their door step.
Her intention is to make it obvious to the police that her daughter-in-law is really the mother of an infant.
Sanki sat right next to her daughter-in-law who is holding the baby. They could see the police outside the door. Then the police entered their house.
The duo of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law began panicking.
The Adivasis do not think of the police as humans. They are used to confronting and living with wild animals in the forest. But for them, especially for women, the police are worse than those animals. There is only a threat to life with any wild animal. But with the police, there is a threat of rape and sexual assault.
“Oi, where did the men of your house go?” police asked in their natural threatening, arrogant voice.
“Men? There are no men. I just have one son. He went to see his sister,” replied Sanki while trying hard to put on a brave face. Sanki’s husband died only three years ago. The police did not ask for her husband’s details and she did not mention it too.
“Who is this? Your younger daughter?” asked another voice, but in the same threatening, arrogant fashion.
“My daughter-in-law”
“Daughter-in-law? Why are you lying that this unmarried woman is your daughter-in-law?”
“Why would I lie? What do you mean ‘unmarried woman’? When she’s the mother of this child…” said Sanki humbly.
“What? She’s a mother?” asked the police not because he distrusted it but with a deliberate intent to trouble her.
“Yes, don’t you see the child in her arms?” she said hoping they would believe the truth and leave her daughter-in-law alone.
“Are you fooling us by claiming that this child is hers? Did you people borrow someone else’s child?”
The panic of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo intensified hearing this.
Sanki said in a wretched voice, “Why would we get somebody else’s child? It is her child”
“Do you think we cannot understand if she’s married or not by merely looking at her face? If you’re going to such lengths to stage such a foolproof drama, , perhaps this girl belongs to a naxalite squad. Come on, come outside,” said the police. While one police forcefully snatched away the baby from Mangli’s hands, the other pulled her up by her shoulder.
As the police harshly handled the baby, the baby shrieked. Sanki immediately rose and took the baby from the police. She then got all riled up with the police for mishandling the baby and spoke angrily with them. “How terrible! You don’t care that you are dealing with an infant and an infant’s mother”.
“How dare you speak to us this way?” the police forcefully pushed her away. Another one grabbed Mangli and pushed her out of her home into the street.
Mangli struggled to free herself from their clutches and pleaded with them, “My child is not doing well. Please leave me.”
Sanki walked behind the police officers dragging Mangli and continued pleading with them. “Please see the face of the small baby and show some mercy. My daughter-in-law is innocent.”
The police threw Mangli into their jeep and took her away. Crying, Sanki continued to walk behind the police jeep. Meanwhile, an old lady living in the neighbouring house offered to take care of the crying, sick baby. The old woman could not run anywhere because of her age. She sat stubbornly in her house even though everyone else was escaping the police. She had been hearing the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo talking to and pleading with the police. Unable to get up and intervene, she remained seated and began cursing the police until she saw Sanki following the police helplessly with the baby still in her arms.
Sanki handed over the baby to this old lady and began following the police tracks to reach her daughter-in-law.
The police who went in large groups to every corner of the village, met at the centre of the village after finishing their raids. There were a total of seventy to eighty policemen with almost ten captives. Out of the ten, three were women including Mangli. All their faces reflected anxiety and fear. Ten to fifteen middle-aged women like Sanki followed the police and reached the center of the village.
Some of the middle-aged women were pleading with the police to leave the captives. Others were questioning angrily, “Why do you always come and disturb the peace in our village? Why are you holding our people?”
Hitting them with hands and lathis and pushing them away, the police tried to move the captives forward. “What injustice is this, why are you taking a small baby’s mother to the station? What will happen to that baby?” Sanki questioned loudly. All of the women’s attention was drawn to Mangli. Everyone was moved thinking of the small baby’s fate.
“How can you take away a child’s mother? What injustice is this?” All the women started to question the police again and again. It seemed like their primary collective duty now is to free Mangli. Seeing how everyone is so concerned about Mangli, a police officer thought of a cruel idea. If the police think of doing something, what will stop them from doing it? The state itself empowers them to torture and harass the people anyway.
“If she is really the mother of the child, we will leave her right now, right away,” said the officer.
Mangli and others thought that the police would really release her.
“She really is the mother of the child,” everyone replied.
“How can we trust this?” said the officer slyly as if planning something heinous. The women did not understand his intentions.
The women responded, “We’re telling you, right?”
“May be all of you are lying to let this woman free.”
“But you have seen the baby with your own eyes. What else is there to prove?” pleaded Sanki.
“Yes, we’ve seen the baby, sure. But how can you prove that that baby is hers?”
“You said you will leave her if she is the mother. Now, you do not believe us. How do we prove it to you?” Sanki helplessly asked.
“We will believe you if she does what we ask her.”
“Tell us what!”
All the women including Mangli were shell shocked and disgusted at what the officer said.
The entire group of policemen laughed derisively.
“What are you saying? Don’t you have any shame to speak like this?”
“How dare you humiliate a mother? Aren’t you born to a mother?”
The women angrily questioned the police.
The police officer did not back out of the plan. “You claim that she’s a mother, and we claim that she is not. As promised, we will leave her right now if she proves herself as a child’s mother. Otherwise, we will put her in jail. It is up to you now,” he said calmly. The police started pushing the captives forward. They used the lathi mercilessly on the middle-aged women following them.
Mangli thought of her child. If she is put in jail, what will happen to the child? Will it even survive? The mere thought of it, sent tremors to her heart.
Will the police lock her up or will they send out all other women and assault her at the station? Haven’t they already ruined so many women’s lives? The mere thought of it made her shiver.
She recalled the words of the police officer. To prove herself as he suggested is also not an option, it is disgusting.
Through helplessness, her grief overflew.
Sanki’s thoughts at this time are almost the same. She intended to get her daughter-in-law freed from their abusive clutches. If not, her fate would be deplorable. Besides, she is concerned about the well-being of the child too! Her heart trembled with grief!
Slowly gathering herself together, she suggested to her daughter-in-law in a strong voice.
“Dear, do as they say. Nothing will happen to you. This sin is upon them. Think of your child, she cannot live without you. Do it for your child.”
Mangli cried her heart out on hearing her mother-in-law’s words. She finally readied herself to do the most humiliating thing that the police had asked her to do to prove that she is an infant’s mother. The police’s looks felt like a thousand caterpillars crawling on her skin. For the first time, she detested being born a female.
Humiliated, she milked her breasts in front of the police and everyone else to prove herself. Those were not milk but the tears of a mother.
*****
“Run! The Police are coming! Run!” These screams have alerted the entire village.
All those capable of running, began running frantically.
Somaari, who was cooking at the time, immediately left all her work to grab her child lying in the cradle. Unfortunately, there’s no one else home. They started harvesting, so her in-laws are all at the field. Her husband left for the neighbouring village to attend the meeting of the village organisation .
Somaari who ran some distance with her baby was caught by the police coming in that direction.
That is it they dragged her out of the village. In a short while, all the police forces which went around the village gathered outside the village. They brought along captives from the fields, and homes. The wives and mothers of these captives followed them to the end of the village. The atmosphere was tense with the police’s abuses, their brandishing the lathis, the captives’ wails, the children’s cries, and the relatives’ pleadings.
“Chalo, chalo! Let’s move!” ordered one police officer.
Somaari shouted at the police pushing her by her shoulder. “Where are you taking me? What did I do?”
Sarcastically, the police replied, “Sure, all of you are innocent. Now who exploded the booby trap the other day? Isn’t it your militia?”
“If it is the militia, arrest them! Why are you arresting me?” Somaari asked loudly without backing down.
“Hey! enough of this! Is militia some abstract thing? All of you young people make up the militia!”
“How will I work in militia with a small baby? Can’t you see this baby in my arms?”
“Oh we can see the baby alright. Are you trying to escape us by holding somebody else’s baby?”
“What are you saying? Why should I hold somebody else’s baby?” shouted Somaari.
There were many such arguments going on between the captives and the police.
But when Somaari shouted loudly, all the other arguments halted for a bit. Everyone’s attention was drawn to Somaari. Some of the women joined Somaari to continue arguing with the police on their unjust behavior.
“Where will you take the mother of a small baby?”
“You do not care for mothers. You do not care for old women. Why do you all harass us so much?”
“Who gave you the authority to enter our villages and disturb our lives and harass us at will?” The women took turns to question the police.
The police yelled, threatened, and beat them all. Yet, the women did not back down.
“It seems I am working in the militia. And according to them, this child is not mine. They claim I am holding this baby only to escape the police,” Somaari added fuel to the fire by giving them the details of the absurd charge that the police made against her to arrest her.
“How can you say this? How can you call her boy as someone else’s? …”
Before even the woman standing next to Somaari finished her sentence, the police interrupted, “yes, maybe it is not her child. Who knows? Is it written on the child’s face that he is your son?”
Somaari was furious. She handed over her child to the woman standing next to her. Her hands moved swiftly. Before anybody realized what was happening, she sprayed her breast milk on the face of the police. That policeman felt as if she spit on his face with disgust.
Everyone was stunned. But Somaari did not flinch. There was no hesitation or shame or fear on her face.
There was only one emotion in her eyes, in her face, in her posture, and in every inch of her body: Defiance!
(Translation of “Dhikkaram”. [Initially published in Arunatara, January 2019] From the collection of “Viyyukka”) –Translated by Vipanchika
