Forced into exile after murder case, 300 people of a clan return to their village in Gujarat's Banaskantha

Indian Express

3 days ago

It all started with a casual conversation between Alka, a cook, and her employer ASP Suman Nala last month.
Nala, posted in the Danta division of Gujarat's Banaskantha district, asked Alka about her family and how often she visited her sasural (marital home). What Alka stoically told her next left the IPS officer shocked: Alka, along with scores of members of her extended Kodarvi clan, had to leave their village overnight after one of their distant relatives was accused of murder.
The year was 2014 and the exodus from Mota Pipodara village in Danta taluka was part of the tradition of 'Chadotaru' – a tribal custom of justice wherein, in the case of murder, either a certain amount (or blood money, as Nala puts it), is paid to the kin of the deceased or the entire family of the offender goes into exile.
Nala learned that the Kodarvis, land owners in their native village, have been compelled to work as either farm labourers in other villages or as diamond polishers in Surat following their exile. Alka's own husband works in Surat in one such unit.
On Thursday, it was a homecoming for 300 people from these 29 Kodarvi families who were welcomed back to their village, 11 years after they left it, through the efforts of Banaskantha Police. Gujarat's Minister of State, Home, Harsh Sanghavi was also present at the function held in the village to celebrate the rehabilitation of the families.
This was not the first time the families had attempted to return to their village. A few days before Alka's conversation with IPS Nala, the elders of the Kodarvi clan had submitted an application with the police seeking help in their rehabilitation to Mota Pipodara.
As Alka shared all this information with ASP Nala, Banaskantha Superintendent of Police (SP) Akshayraj Makwana was alerted and soon, the police got involved in the matter.
JR Desai, sub-inspector at Hadad police station, gathered details of the displaced families, contacted them, and initiated meetings with the village panchayat and elders of both communities to ensure peace and reconciliation. Over the next 20 days or so, police personnel engaged with all the parties involved, Desai said.
Amid all this, an interesting nugget of information reached the police. The man from the Kodarvi clan, who had been accused of murdering a man from another clan during a party in 2014, had been acquitted by the trial court in 2017. What's more, he was able to go back to his village and restart from where he left while the rest of the members of his clan were living in extreme poverty, said SI Desai.
After several rounds of negotiations, during which the community leaders were assured of being credited with a positive exercise while also being warned against disregarding the law, the Kodarvi community members could return to their village.
These families possessed approximately 8.5 hectares of farmland in the village. In coordination with the District Inspector of Land Records, Banaskantha Police identified and measured this land. 'The once barren and overgrown land was levelled and made suitable for farming by the police,' said SP Makwana.
As part of the resettlement efforts, two houses have already been constructed, and with support from the district administration, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and various social organisations, the remaining 27 families will soon be provided with housing and other essential amenities.
The police have raised Rs 70 lakh for the rehabilitation of the Kodarvis with Rs 30 lakh coming from donations and NGOs, and Rs 40 lakh in the form of government grants.
Officials said that many families have already returned to the village and had built temporary shelters while construction and renovation of their homes is underway. Other families are expected to join them soon.
Since the village is situated in a remote area accessed only by foot, funds have also been sanctioned for the construction of a road, an officer said.