JAIPUR, February 2, 2011
Dalits demand judicial inquiry into attack by Meos
Special Correspondent
About a fortnight after the houses of Dalits were ransacked, looted
and set on fire in Husaipur village near Bhiwadi in Alwar district,
the police are yet to arrest those responsible for the mayhem and
ensure the return of Dalits driven out of the village allegedly by the
dominant Meo Muslims. A sick Dalit woman staying in a damaged house
has since lost her life reportedly under the impact of the cold.
The Dalits have charged State Medical and Health Minister Aimaduddin
Ahmed Khan – elected to the Assembly from the Tijara constituency in
which Husaipur falls – with shielding the accused. The lack of action
by the district administration against the "politically
well-connected" accused has baffled not just the Dalits, but other
civil rights activists here as well.
Meos allegedly launched a daylight attack on the Dalits belonging to
the poor Meghwal community on January 19 following an exchange of fire
between the two sides, in which a Meo youth, Zahid, was killed. The
dispute started when a hen reared by a Dalit family was crushed under
the wheels of Zahid's tractor.
While the police have arrested five Dalit youths on the charge of
Zahid's murder, the assailants who torched Dalits' houses and looted
their belongings including cash and jewellery are still at large.
Tension prevails in Husaipur with the dominant Meos allegedly
threatening the few Dalit women and children, who are putting up in
the village under the police protection.
Hundreds of Dalits staged a demonstration at Tijara on Monday
demanding a judicial inquiry into the ransacking of their houses amid
what they described as the ruling Congress leaders' support and
protection to the aggressors. In a memorandum handed over to the
authorities, they demanded stern action against the police and
district officers for their "inaction".
Jaipur-based Centre for Dalit Rights (CDR) patron P. L. Mimroth, who
visited Husaipur on Sunday to attend a meeting between the two sides
arranged by the administration, told The Hindu here that the Dalit men
belonging to the 13 Meghwal families in the village were scared of
returning because all of them had been named as accused in the case of
Zahid's murder.
Sunday's meeting ended abruptly without any result as a crowd of
five-dozen Meos allegedly threatened the Dalit representatives and
swore to take revenge for the murder of Zahid. Mr. Mimroth, who met
Alwar Collector Ashutosh Pednekar, said extremist elements seemed to
be dominating on both the sides and the Sangh Parivar elements were
provoking Dalits in the region.
With the administration having failed to take any step for Dalits'
rehabilitation, Meos are reportedly organising caste panchayats in the
nearby villages such as Khedi, Karenda, Kharkadi, Sarey Kalan,
Chaupakni and Chauksi and issuing "open and unrestrained threats" to
Dalits.
Mr. Mimorth said while the Dalit youths – Rajvir, Bishan, Vikram,
Sanjay and Babulal – arrested in the murder case, who too had
sustained bullet injuries, were yet to be medically examined and
provided with treatment, the case against Meos registered on Dalits'
complaint had been "deliberately made very weak" by inserting mild and
irrelevant charges.
It was only on Monday that some relief in the shape of food and
clothes was provided to the Dalit families, 12 days after the
violence.
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