Raj tribals vow to end ‘blood-money’ tradition

At the collector’s public hearing in Banswara’s Chhoti Sarwan tehsil on Saturday, 19 sarpanchs and about 2,000 locals took a pledge against ‘mautana’, a tribal practice in which monetary compensation is sought for an accidental death or killing from the person held responsible for the death.

“Though there is no recorded history of the practice, it was done for compensation and punishment purposes,” says Rajiv Gupta, former head of the sociology department at University of Rajasthan.

Banswara collector Bhagwati Prasad Kalal says people at times demand compensation even in cases of natural deaths. The collector gives credit to the Chhoti Sarwan tehsildar for initiating the change.

Last month, tehsildar Sanjay Charpota sprang to action after he heard about a man’s death in a road accident. The man, riding a motorcycle, hit a pedestrian but he died after he lost control of the bike and his head hit a stone.

When Charpota reached the place with police, hundreds with sticks and stones had blocked the highway and were planning to attack pedestrian’s village. “They claimed that the bike rider was stopped on the way and hit with a stone by the pedestrian,” he says.

“I told them three things: I’ll ensure a fair investigation, will try to get them assistance at the earliest, and that if they do not clear the road, they will be dealt with as per the law,” he says.

Once the family members of the deceased were convinced, the body was cremated. After Charpota joined the office on December 15, he has resolved four such cases through mediation.

Though family members of a deceased demand money, they are mostly egged on by bhangariyas, villager elders, who act as middlemen and negotiate the amount.

“A small amount of the ‘mautana’ reaches the deceased’s family. If the amount was ₹5 lakh, the family would get ₹50,000 or ₹1 lakh at the most, and the middlemen take the rest,” says Charpota.

Often the person, who paid the amount, had to sell jewellery, and in some cases the house. “People have started realising that there

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