April 5, 1999
|
|
|
|
MADHYA PRADESH Fight to the Finish A tough and trigger-happy woman takes the law into her own hands in a bloody feud over land in Ujjain. By Uday Mahurkar
So, it's not without reason that people in the villages around her house, located amidst a sprawling 75 bigha farm in the village, view the dilapidated but fortress-like dwelling with considerable trepidation and awe. Sugandbai has been seething with anger ever since her husband Khadak Singh, 75, was stabbed to death in a busy market place at Ujjain in 1994. She believes that the assailants attacked him at the behest of the Gaur family with whom Khadak's family has had a 30-year-long dispute over 13 bighas of farmland -- valued at Rs 19 lakh now -- near Sugandbai's house. According to the police, Khadak himself was a known criminal and involved in dacoities in his native Gwalior district and cases were registered against him. He was even convicted and sentenced for murder. Sugandbai's sons too are known to have had frequent brushes with the law, including the murder of a friend of the Gaurs, Salim, in 1991. Khadak was believed to have been stabbed three years later to avenge Salim's murder. The first major bloodshed between the two families was the fallout of this dispute. In September 1995, Raju Gaur, 35 -- one of the three Gaur brothers claiming ownership of the land -- reportedly came to Sugandbai's house and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not hand over the deeds of the plot. The next evening Gaur returned with three friends -- Avinash Vyas, an Ujjain municipal councillor, and two others. No one knows what really happened thereafter, but the result: four dead, including Gaur. Sugandbai's version is that the visitors shot at her with a country-made pistol after a heated exchange and when she fired in self-defence, the four were killed. Later she even lodged a complaint with the police saying that she had been forced to return fire when Vyas shot at her. The Gaurs refute her story and say that she cooked up the self-defence theory. They say that she had injured herself with a pellet from an unlicensed pistol and later placed it in the hands of her dead victims. Says Arvind Gaur, a cousin of Raju: "They had gone there only to settle the land dispute and weren't carrying any weapons. It's a story created by Sugandbai to save her skin." Whatever the truth, the fact remains that on the basis on her story, she was granted bail within six months of her arrest. The quick release from jail, however, was little consolation to Sugandbai because soon after, five friends of Vyas, led by Lala Tripathi, gunned down her sons when they were on their way to the court in connection with a dacoity case against Ram Singh. Since then, Sugandbai has been like a wounded tigress. During the hearing of the case on her sons' murders, she created a stir in the court when, in a fit of rage, she tried to strangle Tripathi's lawyer by grabbing his throat from the witness box while he was questioning her. "Tum ko to mein kaat ke phek doongi (I shall cut you to pieces)," she had roared, forcing the judge to call in the police to control her. The people of Dharam-Badla have obviously had enough of the bloodshed. Says Ramlal Agrawal, a local businessman: "Nine murders have already taken place over the land. One doesn't know how many more are likely." The only way the cycle of bloodshed can end is if either of the disputing parties gives up the claim, but that seems unlikely. Today not only does Sugandbai vow revenge against others, but she and her sons face a threat to their lives too. The deadly game she has been playing for years has also taught her all the tricks of the trade and she is reluctant to get her sons photographed by the press. "Take as many photographs as you want of me but not of my sons. Revealing their identity in the press would be like laying the chickens before the cat. After all these two are the only ones left to look after me," she says, breaking down in a rare moment of weakness. But she recovers her composure quickly enough and again spits fire at her opponents. The police say that one of the five men accused of killing her sons -- he fled from judicial custody two months ago -- might strike at them. A police guard has now been posted at her residence. Sugandbai is unfazed and refuses to budge an inch on the dispute. She obstinately declares that she will never surrender the land to the Gaurs. "And I won't leave this place like a coward even if it means sacrificing my life," she says menacingly, which only seems to indicate that her bloody battle with the Gaurs is far from over. While this may evoke grudging admiration for Sugandbai, the tragedy is that the authorities seem clueless about how to rein in the woman and prevent another blood bath. |
|
Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY © Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
She
stands just 5 ft 2 inches tall. A nondescript sari draped over her slim frame, she could
easily pass off as one of the lakhs of meek, illiterate village women toiling in the
fields. But 46-year-old Sugandbai of Dharam-Badla village, 13 km off the city of Ujjain in
Madhya Pradesh, is no ordinary woman. In a Bollywood-style saga of bloodshed and revenge
over a 13-bigha farmland in the village, this indomitable widow of a convict has virtually
unleashed a reign of terror against her opponents. She was arrested -- and subsequently
released -- for allegedly killing four people and, having lost three of her five sons in
the vicious cycle of violence, thinks nothing of killing a few more. Guns and rifles are
mere toys for Sugandbai and she shoots with perfect aim -- to kill. Her two surviving
sons, Devi Singh, 18, and Mohan Singh, 13, are sharp shooters as well and equally
trigger-happy. 
Fearing the lawlessness that could be
triggered by such cavalier behaviour the police confiscated their guns twice -- first in
1995 and then in 1996. But even when urging the police to return her licensed guns
recently, Sugandbai made no effort to cloak her intentions. "Saab, maari bandook
vapas dai do -- raksha ke vaaste. Mein maara ghar nahin chodun. Par agar woh log mere
saamne aye to mein tapka doon (Please return my guns for self-defence. I assure you I
won't leave my house. But if the killers of my sons come before me I shall gun them
down)," she told the police last week. Villagers are against handing over the
firearms to her, particularly those alleged to be involved in the gunning down of her
sons, Ram Singh, Amar Singh and Narayan Singh, in September 1997. Says Motilal Anjana, 76,
the sarpanch of neighbouring Akasoda village, who is named as a conspirator in the murder
of Sugandbai's three sons: "Giving her back the gun would mean giving her the licence
to kill many more, including us." However, the police measures have proved inadequate
in containing the bloody feud. 
