THE BALLAD OF BANT SINGH

Nirupama Dutt

One night in January 2006, in Punjab’s Jhabar village, a Dalit farm worker and activist named Bant Singh was brutally beaten by a group of upper-caste men. Singh lost both his arms and a leg in the attack, which his assailants carried out to punish him for trying to apprehend a group of men who had gang-raped his young daughter. In this biography, the journalist and poet Nirupama Dutt tells Singh’s harrowing story, while also sketching a picture of the man’s inspiring persona. To do the latter, Dutt draws heavily from the songs that Singh now composes and sings, which are full of undimmed revolutionary zeal.

Speaking Tiger, 224 pages, Rs 250