TNN | Oct 2, 2012, 04.22AM IST

CHANDIGARH: A 37-year-old dalit woman sarpanch was assaulted on Sunday when she was presiding over a meeting to broker peace between two groups fighting over distribution of land for poor families at Aambwalan village in Haryana‘s Yamunanagar district.

The sarpanch, Rajrani, and two other villagers were seriously injured in the attack and were admitted to a government hospital.

Yamunanagar SP Mitesh Jain said the injured were not in a position to give a statement in this regard. “The police will take further action once the injured people give their statements,” Jain added.

Investigation officer Satpal Singh, who had visited the spot, said the sarpanch was assaulted after arguments over the land distribution.

The sarpanch’s husband, Sandeep Singh, who also received injuries in the attack, said around 20 dalits attacked the sarpanch and others present in the panchayat.

The dispute began at a meeting called on September 27 to remove encroachments on a 7.5-acre plot so that it could be distributed among poor families to build houses as part of Haryana’s government ‘Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna’. It was launched in 2008 to allot 100 square yard residential plots to below poverty line families, Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes.

“Two villagers — Pala Ram and Krishan Kumar — picked up a fight at the meet,” said Sandeep. “To resolve the matter, a panchayat was called in the village on Sunday. When the panchayat was going on, a group got angry and started pelting stones at people present in the panchayat. They were also carrying swords and iron rods.”