Varanasi: The death of a girl from Vishwakarma community hailing from the other backward castes (OBC) in Katariya village under the limits of Karanda police station in Ghazipur district on April 15 and the stone pelting that followed when a delegation of Samajwadi Party functionaries was on its way to meet the family on Apr 22, has brought the focus on the region.Though the girl’s post-mortem examination report ruled out rape and the cause of death was stated as drowning, the prime accused was arrested on murder charges as her family insisted on it. What drew the administrative and political spotlight to the region is SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s proposed visit to meet the girl’s family in Katariya village on Apr 29. Not only Ghazipur SP Iraj Raja is frequenting the area, but ADG Varanasi zone Piyush Mordia and DIG range Vaibhav Krishna are also keeping close vigil.
The caste equations of Katariya and adjoining villages keep SP dominating here.During the initial police investigation, it came to light that the girl was in a relationship with a man from Katariya village, but when the girl’s family became aware of it, they fixed her marriage with some other youth. Had she been alive, the arrival of the family of her to-be groom was scheduled on Saturday (Apr 25). At around 5.45am on April 15, her family informed police that she was killed.
Some mischievous elements attempted to instigate the family, suggesting that if rape was reported, it would create a bigger issue, said Raja, mentioning that when the post-mortem examination report of the girl cleared that her death was caused by drowning and no sign of external or internal injuries establishing sexual assault or rape was found, her father lodged a case on murder charges against the accused boy and he was arrested.On receiving inputs that some anti-social elements and political groups had started a bid to flare up the issue by giving it a colour of Brahmin vs OBC, Raja said the girl’s father was told that if he believed rape had occurred, he could write it down, but he lodged only a murder case.All these details were communicated when the SP delegation reached Katariya on Apr 22, when there was a clash among villagers. Raja said that among 246 accused in the Apr 22 violence, 20 were arrested and identification of other accused by collecting scientific evidence against them is in progress.In the meantime, Akhilesh increased the worries for officials by announcing his visit to Katariya village on Apr 29 to meet the girl’s family.On Friday evening, ADG zone Piyush Mordia and DIG range Vaibhav Krishna also reached the village and met her family members. Mordia said, “The girl’s father was fully satisfied with progress in investigation and action taken so far. He wants trial through a fast-track court for early disposal of the case and sentencing of accused.”Some political parties and anti-social elements attempted to spread unrest and instigate the emotions of the family members by deviating from the main facts, said the ADG, calling upon villagers to maintain peace in the village and surrounding areas as any bid to disturb the peace will make adverse legal action inevitable.Why Katariya is crucial for SP?People aware of the political topography of Ghazipur Sadar seat mention that proactiveness of SP in Katariya area is a compulsion for it to keep OBC as well as PDA strengthened to keep winning this seat.
Yadav, Scheduled Caste and Kshtariya voters are dominant in this village and surrounding area, although other castes like Vishwakarma (Lohar), Dhobi and Brahmin also have presence but in meagre strength. Katariya has Dharanarpur village in the neighbourhood due to which the names Katariya-Dharammarpur are referred to together.At Dharammarpur, the Yadav population is over 12,000. Adjoining villages including Sokni and Badhariya are also Yadav-dominated villages.
The counting of votes for Ghazipur Sadar assembly area in general elections takes place in 29 rounds. And, the last rounds cover the area of Katariya-Dharammarpur, Sokni and Badhariya. During close contests, like a margin of lead of around 5,000 against the SP candidate till 28 rounds, remains unsafe, as when the EVM is opened for the 29th and final round, the SP candidate gets 6,000 to 7,000 votes in bulk here.Its live example was the result of the 2022 assembly election when the nail-biting contest between SP’s Jaikishan Sahu Jackey and BJP’s Sangeeta Balwant ended in favour of SP. Jackey secured 92,472 votes to defeat Balwant (90,780) by a margin of 1,692 only. In 2012 also, SP’s Vinay Kumar defeated BSP’s Raj Kumar by a margin of 241 votes only while BJP lagged around 7,000 votes behind them.
