Help us arrest Mirchpur arson convicts: Cops

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, September 3

The police are making efforts to arrest the Jat youths convicted by the Delhi High Court in the Mirchpur violence case. Amid palpable tension, children and youngsters belonging to Scheduled Caste families have moved out of the village as a precautionary measure.

Sources said the police called a delegation of prominent persons of Mirchpur village to discuss the situation in the wake of the High Court order. Police officials urged the villagers to help in securing custody of the convicted persons.

“We want them to persuade the convicts to surrender before the police. Their arrest is inevitable in view of the High Court order. It will be better if they come forward, otherwise the police will adopt their own measures to ensure the arrests,” said a police official.

Village residents Jai Prakash and Som Nath told mediapersons that Dalit youths had moved out of the village to avoid any untoward incident.

“There has not been any untoward incident. The police have assured us security in case of an incident, but we do not want to take a risk. Members of our community have confined themselves to their homes till the convicts are arrested,” they said.

Members of the Jat community refused to interact with mediapersons, reiterating that the media was responsible for hype regarding violence in the village.

Narnond SHO Sadhuram said the situation was peaceful. “I am in the village. The police will follow orders of the court regarding arrest of the convicts. Right now, it is raining here,” he said. He refused to provide any details about the arrest or surrender of the convicts.

The High Court had reversed the acquittal of 20 persons and upheld conviction of 13 others in connection with arson and assault on the Dalit locality in the village in April 2010.