By Nikita Jain
There is massive tension in Madhya Pradesh’s Shukrawasa village, where the remains of the HOWL (How Ought We Live) collective’s campus still stand. From facing conversion cases to harassment and fake FIRs, the members of HOWL revealed a series of horrors for merely fighting against a systematically oppressive system of caste and upper-caste landlords.
On 4th of August the campus was demolished illegally and unconstitutionally.On October 30, in the tribal village of Shukrawasa, a campus set up by a few upper-caste social activists was set on fire after its demolition by the local administration. The blaze gutted books, two vehicles, machinery, and a flour mill that had long helped several tribal families in the village.
Maktoob spoke to villagers who are part of HOWL and to the founder of the collective to understand the series of events that led them to this situation. The story reveals how authorities sided with the mob to harass the villagers, the members of HOWL, and to use conversion allegations against them.
HOWL was founded by 46-year-old Sourav Banerjee, who is also a journalist, and was an eight-to-ten-member self-funded youth collective.
On 24 July 2025, Banerjee was picked up by police from Indore, 200 km west of Bhopal, and held without formal arrest. He was later released on bail.
The HOWL campus was built on land owned by Devraj Rawat, General Secretary of the PPDC, a Samiti member of the organisation, and an independent election candidate who sought to represent tribals, Dalits, workers, and farmers. According to members, the campus served as a centre for employment, informal education, and community initiatives led by the Parvatpura Panchayat Development Committee (PPDC).
Speaking to Maktoob about the fire, Saraswati (name changed due to safety concerns), who is a Samiti member of the organisation, said that the situation in the village is extremely volatile, especially after the burning of the campus. Saraswati was one of the last people to be at the campus.
She alleged that the attack followed a verbal threat made a day before the fire incident. “We were cleaning the campus that morning. Nilesh Patel and Brahmanand Chaudhary came asking if Sir Sourav Banerjee was returning, and warned us before leaving: ‘See at night. It will cost you to leave the village’.”
That same night, the campus caught fire.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
