The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a murder case against 11 persons accused of burning to death two Dalit children in an arson attack at Sun Perh village in the Faridabad district of Haryana on October 20.
“On the request of the Haryana government, the case has been registered under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes [Prevention of Atrocities] Act, on the basis of an FIR registered by the local police,” said a CBI official.
Among those named in the case are Balwant, his son Dharm Singh and nine others from the same community. The local police have already arrested seven accused persons.
On Thursday, a CBI team comprising Central Forensic Science Laboratory officials visited the scene of crime and collected some exhibits for investigations. The team led by a Deputy Inspector-General also took over the case records from the local police.
A Dalit family of four, including two children, was set afire inside its house allegedly by some members of the Rajput community in the early hours of October 20.
Vaibhav (2 years) and Divya (10 months) were declared brought dead at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, while their mother Rekha (22) was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with serious burns.
Rekha’s husband, Jitender (26), a medical attendant at a hospital, sustained injuries in the hands.
The attack on the Dalit family is being linked to the murder of three members of the Rajput community on October 5 last year. Twelve members of Jitender’s family were named in that case and they are currently in jail.
It has been alleged that Jitender’s family was threatened with dire consequences if it did not leave the village. Jitender, who has been given police security after the last year’s incident, accused the local police of not taking any action on his complaint.
Jitender told the media that he, his wife and two children were sleeping near a window when some persons threw petrol at them from outside and put in a burning matchstick.
