Scarred, Hisar villages on the edge

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Dhani Pal (Hisar), February 15

The luxurious lush green  fields on either side of the Hansi-Sisay road cloak the fear that hounds the people of Dhani Pal and Sainipura. Last year, this 14-km stretch had turned into a battlefield with Jats from Sisay clashing with non-Jats of Sainipura and the violence spilling over into adjoining dhanis.

The arsonists torched everything — houses, vehicles and belongings— leaving one person dead and several injured. Ex-serviceman Harphool Singh’s house was the first to be attacked. Barely 100 metres from a canal dividing Sisay and Dhani Pal villages, the house stands alone midst sprawling fields. 

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“We don’t want to shift. There has been no untoward incident so far, but the Jat stir is gaining momentum and our house falls en route the dharna site”, he says anxiously. Not far from his house, Jats in Ramayana village are holding a dharna. Recalling the February 21 horror last year, he says, “An armed mob swarmed our house. I locked myself inside the store. My daughters-in-law hid themselves in another room while my wife and our elder son Surender took cover under the stairs. My younger son Pradeep was shot in the leg. The mob left only to return the following day to burn it down. A visiting relative lost his life in the attack.”

Residing on the same stretch is Raghubir Singh and his five sons. Raghubir was the only male member at home when a mob attacked the family of 12, six of them children. “I hid the women and children in the mustard fields nearby. Taking refuge in wheat fields at the rear of the house, I saw a mob rushing in and out. Every household item was destroyed. Even the windows and doors were torched. All this while, some Army vehicles patrolled the Hansi road, “ he recalls.

The incident left his grandchildren Daksh (3) and Navya (5) traumatised. “They began screaming in sleep, crying ‘Dada, vo aagaye, bhaj lo (Grandpa, the mob is here, let us flee).' We had to take them to a hospital”, he says.

Dev Raj, the sarpanch of Sainipura village, is keeping a watch on the developments in Ramayana village. “It has been peaceful so far. Only the elderly are seen travelling to the dharna site,” he says. Meanwhile, a jeep carrying CRPF personnel patrols the sensitive stretch. Villagers say the violence last year has created a wedge among communities. “Forgiving and forgetting will take time,” adds Manphool Singh.