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CRIME: DACOIT REFORMER
In Favour Of The Police
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LAYING DOWN ARMS: Geetam Gurjjar (circled)
surrendered to the police at Ram's behest
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But Ram is obviously
an exception — he knows he needs to keep his cool to mediate. And
he's certainly approached his career with more than a measure of foresight.
He has used his contacts to set himself up as a social leader who can
negotiate a settlement in disputes. He is vice-president of the Shanti
Mission, an organisation that aims at ridding the Chambal ravines of dacoits.
Elected to the state Assembly on a Congress ticket in 1977 from Bari and
in 1990 from Bayana, he displays the politician's proclivity for sycophancy
and won't respond unless he is called "netaji". His stature
in the community has helped him rise in political circles. In 1977 Indira
Gandhi gave him a ticket for the assembly polls after he impressed her
by mobilising Gurjjars for a rally in Jammu and Kashmir. He won despite
the Janata Party wave. He also got close to Pilot and raised election
funds for him. Now, at the ripe age of 85, he is trying to get a ticket
for the next assembly polls.
Others who have tried to follow Ram's trail
— like Hansa Ram Gurjjar who was twice elected MLA on a BJP ticket
and who recently organised the surrender of two dacoits in Karauli —
might have succeeded in politics but haven't been able to command the
respect he does. Hansa Ram, for example, has been booked in a murder case.
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More
than 500 dacoits have surrendered to the police at the behest of
the ageing persuader.
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Salik Ram's success lies in his credibility.
"If I promise the police a surrender I get it done," he says.
If the dacoit does not want to surrender, Ram warns him of a police encounter.
That often does the trick. Karauli residents got a taste of his tough
side when thieves stole some bells from Babbu Maharaj temple, where bells
are offered to the deity by dacoits. When the police failed to apprehend
the thieves, it was Ram who hunted them down and recovered the bells.
"Ram does go out of way to help the police,"
says B.G. Joseph, SP, Dholpur. When Joseph asked Ram to persuade dacoit
Geetam Gurjjar to surrender, Ram not only set out in search of Gurjjar
but also involved his relatives in the search. Gurjjar surrendered in
Madhya Pradesh, but only after Ram assured him of a safe post-crime life
in Rajasthan. His influence extends to younger dacoits too-he has persuaded
40 of them to surrender during the past year. "We were brought up
in the belief that Salik Ram is a true protector,'' says Mohar Singh,
27, who surrendered to the police after Karauli sp M.N. Dinesh asked Ram
to coax him into it.
Salik Ram certainly has tremendous influence
over his community. A couple of months ago, the Dholpur police, on the
lookout for a dacoit, charged into a house and accidentally shot dead
22-year-old Attra from Chachokhar village. The entire Gurjjar community
turned against the police. At midnight, anxious officers requested Ram
to intervene. He went to the village and defused the tension after persuading
the police to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the Attra's family.
Ram has his detractors. Shiv Charan Mali, Congress
leader from Karauli, says Ram has done nothing to ease the people's problems
in Dang. But state Finance Minister Pradyumn Singh and former minister
Banwari Lal Sharma are among his admirers.
Salik Ram's activities have benefited almost
everyone in Dang: the police get rid of dacoits, the state saves its resources,
the dacoit gets a chance to reform and lead a normal life. But as Dinesh
says, "Everyone benefits in the process except the law." The
legal process has become irrelevant. That is perhaps something Ram can
think about.
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