Haryana- 40 Dalit families flee Mirchpur after caste clash

ROHTAK: Almost seven years after Mirchpur witnessed the fury of communal flames, caste violence reared its head again on Monday night at the small village in Haryana‘s Hisar district. The fresh violence forced around 40 Dalit families to flee their homes.

Trouble erupted after some Jat men allegedly thrashed a youth from the Balmiki community, leaving four injured, during a cycle show on Monday night. A case under section 148 (rioting), 149 (if an offence be committed by any member of an unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of IPC and under the provisions of the SCST Act has been registered against 15 persons in Narnaund Police Station.

Hisar SP Rajender Meena said four upper caste men were arrested for the attack on the Dalit youth. The arrested four have been identified as Ram Prasad, Satish, Neelu and Pravesh. Fearing a backlash from Jats, 40 Dalit families, including women and children, left the village on Tuesday morning for nearby Talwandi Rana village. Police and other officials followed the families and tried to persuade them to stay back but to no avail. Later, the administration shifted them to government officers’ mess in Hisar. Mirchpur first hit the headlines on April 21, 2010, when 70-yearold Tara Chand and his physically-challenged teenaged daughter Suman were killed and several houses were burnt by upper caste men following a clash over a trivial issue. Dalits had refused to return to the village after the incident and a court had ordered to deploy CRPF personnel at the village. Rajat Kalsan, state coordinator of National Alliance for Dalit Human Rights, said Monday’s incident occurred because the security personnel provided for the village after the 2010 clash were withdrawn. He said his organisation would conduct a fact finding survey and then move the high court, seeking prop er rehabilitation of the Dalit victims.