Mirchpur panel blames magistrate, police for failing to check violence

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 5

The Justice Iqbal Singh Commission of Inquiry, which probed the Mirchpur violence in Hisar when two Dalits were burnt alive by the dominant Jats, has accused the police of failing to prevent the incident and being a “mute spectator” to the violence.

In its report, which was presented in the Haryana Assembly yesterday, the Commission noted that “the Duty Magistrate and the police failed to prevent the incident (of April 21, 2010). “The police present at the spot failed to control the situation. Sufficient force duly armed was present in the village but the assertion of the police that they failed to control the situation due to inadequate force is not at all correct. In fact, they failed to take any action and remained mute spectators,” the report said.

On April 21, 2010, 70-year-old Tara Chand and his 16-year-old physically challenged daughter Suman were burnt alive in Mirchpur when an irate mob of Jats went on a rampage after an altercation with Dalits on April 19 and 20, 2010. Besides, 52 persons were injured and 18 houses were damaged.

Vinod Kajal, Station House Officer of the Narnaud police station, and Jage Ram, naib tehsildar-cum-Executive Magistrate, were later booked and arrested for dereliction of duty and disciplinary proceedings are being initiated against them.

The report noted that there was tension in the village on April 20 on account of the incident that took place the previous day. “The police went to Mirchpur but no action was taken. Even the local police failed to inform the Hisar Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Commissioner about the situation in the village. They failed to understand the gravity of the situation and further failed to take appropriate action that resulted in the April 21 incident,” it stated.

However, the Commission found that the state government had taken adequate steps to assuage the insult and injury suffered by the victims by taking all necessary steps for their protection, security, socio-economic development and paved the way for fast-tracking the realisation of their rights.

The state government had constituted the one-man inquiry commission under Justice Iqbal Singh, a retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, to probe the circumstances that resulted in the death of two Dalits and also the circumstances that led to arson, fire and rioting in the village.

‘They failed to act, remained mute spectators’

• In a report presented in the Haryana Assembly on Friday, the Justice Iqbal Singh Commission of Inquiry said the police present at the spot in Mirchpur on April 21, 2010, failed to control the situation and remained mute spectators
• “The Duty Magistrate and the police failed to prevent the incident of burning alive of Tara Chand and his minor physically challenged daughter. In fact, the police failed to take any action and were mute spectators,” the report said
• The Commission, however, said the state government took adequate steps to protect victims and also paved the way for fast-tracking the realisation of their rights