CRPF exits Mirchpur 6 yrs after caste conflagration

HISAR: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been withdrawn from Mirchpur village in Hisar, which was torn by inter-caste violence over six years ago when an upper caste mob torched houses of Scheduled Caste families in which two persons were burnt alive.

Tribune News Service

Hisar, December 9

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been withdrawn from Mirchpur village in Hisar, which was torn by inter-caste violence over six years ago when an upper caste mob torched houses of Scheduled Caste families in which two persons were burnt alive.

After approval from the state and Central governments, CRPF jawans left the village. Hansi DSP Narender Kadiyan said a 20-member committee comprising members of different castes had been formed to maintain peace and harmony in the village.

“The CRPF left the village last night as complete normalcy was restored. Members of all castes agreed on withdrawal of forces and there was no complaint or protest against the decision today,” he said.

He added that around 20 more Haryana Police personnel had been deployed at the police post in the village as a precautionary measure.

Rajat Kansal, a Dalit activist and lawyer, opposed the decision to withdraw the CRPF, stating that the persons who were part of the peace committee had turned hostile in court as witnesses. The situation was not as normal as being presented and Central forces were still required,” he said.

He added that the families staying at the Tanwar farmhouse in Hisar had not returned to the village. He complained that police security provided to a number of Dalits had also been withdrawn.

On April 21, 2010, a group of upper caste village residents torched over a dozen houses of Dalit families, in which 17-year-old polio-afflicted Suman and her aged father Tara Chand were charred to death.

The violence erupted following an argument between some Dalit youths and upper caste men after a person belonging to the latter community threw a stone at a dog barking at him.

The CRPF was deployed in the village in February 2011, about 10 months after the violence. Since then, the force had remained stationed around the locality of Dalits. A Haryana Police post had been set up in the village and around 20 Dalits living in Hisar, Mirchpur and other places provided police guards.

After the case was shifted to a Delhi court, a special court there had awarded life term to three of the 15 convicts in September 2011. It had sentenced five convicts to five-year jail term and seven convicts to two years in jail. The court had acquitted 82 others in the case.