Shobharam, Advocate, Raipur Unit
Shobharam with his diminutive personality may not appear to be an activist to strangers , but his life and actions give us ample evidence to the contrary.
He received a legal education, but has begun practicing only after his association with the Centre.
Earlier he worked as a journalist in several newspapers and has also been associated with different civil society organisations in the past.
He recalls in his youth he has leftist leanings, but he was disillusioned by their inability to transform thought and ideas into action.
He is a dalit and identifies very strongly with his dalit identity.
his personal experience of discrimination and the marginalisation of his community has informed his commitment towards social justice for all. Caste he believes underlies all forms of discrimination.
The reality of caste is present everywhere, he recalls a painful incident from the Tundra gram which deeply affected him. the village has a history of caste violence. this incident began as a brawl between some men from lower caste and others from the dominant caste, when the lower caste men were asked to move to the file behind where the upper castes were seated. Their refusal to do so was not taken very well by the upper castes; who then mobilised their communities and caused immense destruction in the dalit colonies by stealing 300 l of kerosene oil from the fair price shops. The upper caste mobs ravaged the colony and grievously hurt many men and women from the dalit community, which resulted in the death of one Khori Bai.
The accused were booked under 144 and relevant sections of the IPC and the SC ST PoA, Act. the case is still being litigated.
He proudly mentions the conviction and compensation secured in the murder of Mukesh Ghritlahare. Mukesh was murdered after being wrongfully detained over a dispute over his land. When he returned from the jail, he found his kuchcha house was nowhere to be seen and instead the doctor had constructed his pucca house. On protesting, he was murdered in cold blood in the presence of several witnesses. The Raipur team pursued this throughout the course of litigation and secured a conviction against the accused and compensation for the victim’s family.