imported>Inter&anthro at 21:58, 30 May 2021

2021-05-30T21:58:53Z

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{{Infobox person
| name = Bant Singh
| image = Bant Singh Jhabbar at World Book Fair, New Delhi (2019) (04) (cropped).jpg
| birth_name = Bant Singh
| birth_place = Punjab
| nationality = Indian
| occupation = Labour Rights Activist
| organization = [[Mazdoor Mukti Morcha]]
| party = [[Aam Aadmi Party]]
}}

{{Use Indian English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
'''Bant Singh''' is a [[Sikh]] labourer and singer from the Jhabhar village in [[Mansa district, Punjab|Mansa]] district, [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]], [[India]], who has emerged as an agricultural labour activist, fighting against the power of the landowner.<ref name="Sengupta">Amit Sengupta, "[http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220601100408 Untouchable India]", p. 82–84 in ''Index on Censorship'', Volume 35, Number 4 (2006).</ref> Described by Amit Sengupta as "an icon of [[Dalit]] resistance<ref>Amit Sengupta, [http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/hsa/pdf/HSA_19_07_2006.pdf#page=49 The Dalit sword of Mansa], ''Himāl Southasian'', October 2006. Accessed online 1 October 2010.</ref> he has been active in organizing poor, agricultural workers, activism that continues despite a 2006 attack that cost him both of his lower arms and his left leg."<ref name=Sengupta/>

After his minor daughter was raped by some powerful men in 2000, he dared take them to court, a usual occurrence when a Dalit is raped by a non-Dalit, braving threats of violence and attempted bribes. The trial culminated in life sentences for three of the culprits in 2004, "the first time that a Dalit from the region who had complained against upper-caste violence had managed to secure a conviction."<ref name="Zaidi">Annie Zaidi, [https://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2302/stories/20060210003703300.htm Casteist Assault] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820132032/http://www.flonnet.com/fl2302/stories/20060210003703300.htm |date=20 August 2007 }}, ''Frontline'' (India), Volume 23 - Issue 02, 28 Jan. – 10 Feb. 2006. Accessed online 13 June 2007.</ref><ref name="hindu_paying">{{Cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/paying-a-price-for-securing-justice-for-his-daughter/article3240254.ece | title=Paying a price for securing justice for his daughter| newspaper=The Hindu| date=2006-01-15}}</ref>

On the evening of 7 January 2006,<ref name=Zaidi /> Bant Singh was returning home through some wheat fields. He had just been campaigning for a national agricultural labour rally to be held in [[Andhra Pradesh]] in January. He was suddenly waylaid by a gang of seven men, suspected to be sent by Jaswant and Niranjan Singh, the current and former headmen of his village who have links with the [[Indian National Congress]] party. One of them brandished a revolver to prevent any resistance while the other six set upon him with iron rods and axes beating him to a pulp.

He was left for dead, and a phone call was made to Beant Singh, a leading man in Jhabhar, to pick up the dead body. However, Bant Singh was alive, though barely.

He was first taken to civil hospital in [[Mansa district, Punjab|Mansa]] but was not given proper treatment there.<ref name=Zaidi /><ref name=Word>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj38RJcjOkg Bant Singh Can Still Sing], ''Word, Sound, and Power'', Video : Bant Singh Can Still Sing. Accessed online 1 October 2010.</ref> Then he was taken to the [[Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research|PGI]] at [[Chandigarh]], where both lower arms and one leg had to be amputated since gangrene had set in by then, and his kidneys had collapsed due to blood loss. The doctor was eventually suspended for his conduct.<ref name="Sengupta2">Amit Sengupta, "[http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220601100408 Untouchable India]", p. 82–84 in ''Index on Censorship'', Volume 35, Number 4 (2006), p. 83, mentions the incident, the bribe demand, and the damage to his limbs, and the doctor's suspension</ref>{{Citation needed|reason=Citation needed for the hospital and doctor's names, kidney damage, gangrene|date=September 2011}}

His biography titled ''The Ballad of Bant Singh: A Qissa of Courage'', written by [[Nirupama Dutt]] was published in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-the-ballad-of-bant-singh-a-qissa-of-courage-2183164 |title=Book Review: The Ballad of Bant Singh- A Qissa of Courage |work=DNA India |last=Kulkarni |first=Dhaval |date=February 28, 2016 |access-date=January 18, 2021}}</ref>

Bant Singh was featured in 'Chords of Change' TV series and in a 2020 Tamil film '[[Gypsy (2020 film)|Gypsy]]'.

==Notes==
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Bant}}
[[Category:Indian civil rights activists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Mansa district, India]]
[[Category:Activists from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Caste-related violence in India]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Aam Aadmi Party politicians from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:Indian Sikhs]]
[[Category:Indian farmers]]

Bant Singh - Revision history

imported>Inter&anthro at 21:58, 30 May 2021