‘Assault’ case: Congress Dalit leader says family will convert to Islam if BJP MLA, husband don’t face action

Gondal BJP MLA Geetaba Jadeja’s son Jyotiradityasinh alias Ganesh has been arrested for the alleged assault on Sanjay.

On Wednesday, Rajesh Solanki went to the office of the Junagadh District Collector and collected application forms to seek the state government’s permission for religious conversion. The move came days after he told the media on July 6 that he and around 150 members of the extended Solanki family would convert to Islam if the BJP government didn’t act against Geetaba and her husband Jayrajsinh Jadeja.

Rajesh demanded that by August 15, the BJP should seek Geetaba’s resignation and book Jayrajsinh under IPC section 120B (criminal conspiracy) for his alleged role in the assault on Sanjay in the intervening night of May 30 and 31.

Jyotiradityasinh (25) was booked on May 31 after Sanjay (26) filed a police complaint, alleging that Jyotiradityasinh and others kidnapped him from Junagadh following an argument over the MLA’s son’s driving.

Sanjay alleged in the complaint that the accused took him to Gondal in Rajkot district, threatened him with a pistol, stripped him and forced him to apologise while recording it on a mobile phone.

Subsequently, police arrested Jyotiradiyasinh and 10 others on charges of attempt to murder and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. All the accused are presently in judicial custody.

However, Sanjay’s father Rajesh alleged that Jyotiradityasinh’s father Jayrajsinh, a former three-time MLA from Gondal, was also part of the conspiracy of kidnapping and assaulting Sanjay.

“BJP has been ruling Gujarat for the past 25 years, and at least 5,000 incidents of atrocities against Dalits have been registered during this period. Victims of Una atrocities have not got justice even after eight years. It is the duty of the Gujarat government to protect citizens, but Gondal Ganesh, who is son of the sitting MLA and a former MLA, kidnapped my son,” Rajesh told media persons outside the Collector’s office on Wednesday.

Rajesh told The Indian Express on Thursday that he has given the government and the BJP time till August 15. “If the government and the BJP don’t listen to us and agree to our demands, we shall lead a huge rally to Gandhinagar and submit memorandums to the Chief Minister, Governor and the BJP president to demand justice for Dalits. If the government doesn’t move even after that, we shall convert to Islam as it won’t make sense to be part of a religion whose members break our backs, but who are happy to marry their daughters to those who offer namaz while refusing to acknowledge us as fellow Hindus,” he said.

Rajesh Solanki’s political career began within the BJP, and he was elected to the Junagadh Municipal Corporation on a BJP ticket in 2004. In 2009, he switched over to the Congress and won local body polls the same year and in 2014, before losing in 2019.

N F Chaudhary, Resident Additional Collector of Junagadh, confirmed that Rajesh collected application forms for conversion. “However, we have not received any filled up forms from them yet,” he said. He also said that the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act empowers a district magistrate to ascertain if any individual is seeking conversion out of duress, or if someone is luring an individual to convert and so on.