Tears give way to rage in Sunpedh village, CBI to investigate Dalit killing
NB: The RSS-led government's attitude towards oppressed castes is clear enough from an incident in April 2015. RSS swayamsevaks ruthlessly beat up Dalit villagers over a small episode involving children in Sonepat (Haryana) and the police refused to register a complaint. Let no one be fooled by all talk of CBI inquiries. Money will flow, power will talk and justice sabotaged. The kind of persons now holding political power in the Centre and many states is evident from the report on the Dadri lynching of the National Commission on Minorities. By publishing an article justifying the work of lynch mobs in its propaganda journal Panchjanya, the Sangh Parivar (which ought better to be named Sangh Lafang) has openly avowed the practice of mob violence. That persons with such noxious ideas now hold constitutional authority is a mark of mortal danger to institutions of Indian democracy. DS
Sunpedh village of Faridabad district in Haryana continues
to be tense a day after two children were burnt alive in a shocking incident of
caste violence. There is simmering anger in the Dalit community not just
against the perpetrators of the crime, but also against the police which failed
to provide protection to them leading to the ghastly incident. Rekha, 23, the
mother of the two kids regained consciousness on Wednesday only to be told her
children would soon be buried.
Vaibhav, 3, and 9-month-old Divya were rushed to Safdarjung
Hospital around 3.30 am Tuesday. Doctors said both children suffered 60-70
percent thermal burns and were declared dead immediately. Rekha wept quietly as her children were wrapped into tiny
white bundles and an entire village bid a tearful goodbye to the innocents. She
continues to be in a lot of pain and is barely able to speak but she
"nodded vigorously" when she was asked if she wants to speak to the
authorities. Doctors have put her on a heavy dose of painkillers to give her
some physical relief.
A Special Investigating Team (SIT) has been set up to probe
the incident, according to Mohammad Akil, Haryana ADGP Law and Order, who
visited Sunped village to review the situation. DCP/NIT Faridabad will head the
team, he said. A massive deployment of security forces has been made in the
village. Ballabhgarh Deputy Commissioner of Police along with Tigaon Assistant
Commissioner of Police is monitoring the situation to prevent any untoward
incident. Three arrests have been made so far.
Meanwhile PTI reported that the Haryana Government on
Wednesday recommended a CBI probe into the 'revenge killing' in Faridabad
district. "Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has recommended a
CBI probe in the incident. A SIT has also been formed which is headed by Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Puran Chand," Khattar's media advisor, Amit Arya
said. The Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the state police
will probe the case before CBI takes it over, police sources said. Once the CBI
probe gets notified, the investigation details will be handed over to them as
per procedure.
What has shocked the Dalits here is the fact that the
district administration and the police knew of the grave threat to the Dalit
family and it had been given police protection for the last 10 months. Seven
policemen posted in the area, including the in-charge of Sadar Ballabgarh
police station, have been suspended with immediate effect for dereliction of
duty. The Dalits, however, are not satisfied with the government’s
action against the policemen. They are demanding that an FIR be registered
against them as they were equally responsible for the carnage. They charged
that the policemen rarely remained posted in the area, This gave a chance to
the attackers to set ablaze the house at night.
The Sunpedh incident is a reminder of the Mirchpur carnage
in Hisar in 2010 where a Dalit, Tara Chand, aged 70 and his 16-year-old
physically challenged daughter Suman were burned alive in their house. Later
the one-man judicial commission of inquiry headed by justice Iqbal Singh had
held the police and the duty magistrate responsible for the escalation of
violence in the area. Then too, questions had been raised about the functioning
of the Haryana police as it had failed to take timely action despite warnings
against possible attack on Dalits in Mirchpur.
Jitender Kumar, father of the two children who died, said he
used to be in fear the Rajputs ever since their communities clash with them a
year ago. Jitender, who works in a medical store in Ballabhgarh, said no
compensation or consolation could give him relief as he had lost both his
children. Anil Baba, Haryana unit president of the Republican Party of India
(RPI), said they will not allow cremation of the bodies till a case was
registered against the policemen held guilty for dereliction of duty.
Soon after Tuesday’s shocking incident, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had a telephonic
talk with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to ensure security in the
village to prevent such incidents. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today visited the
village to meet the Dalit family. Former Congress Chief Minister of Haryana,
Bhupinder Singh Hooda was one of the first to console Jitender Kumar yesterday.
Gandhi said that the arson attack is a result of
"saffron policies". The Haryana government has failed on the law and
order front and "atrocities" on Dalits are on the rise, he said. "This
is not a government of the weak," said Gandhi. "This is an attitude
shared by the prime minister, the chief minister and the BJP-RSS. If somebody
is weak, they can be crushed." Politicians made a beeline for the village.
Haryana Pradesh Congress president Dr Ashok Tanwar, BJP MP from Ambala,
Rattanlal Kataria, CPM’s Brinda Karat and Ramdas Athawale, MP from Maharashtra,
all landed up.
See also
RSS men attacked us, police forced us to forego legal action, say Sonepat Dalits
RSS associates are linked to terror attacks, asserts Home Secretary (2013)
The Abolition of truth (on the 'parivar's celebration of Gandhi's murder)
The Non-politics of the RSS
Early bloomers: RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
Early bloomers: RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
Madhu Limaye's observations on the RSS (1979)
The Assassination of Gandhi
Hindutva's Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s
The Assassination of Gandhi
Hindutva's Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s
