Taking a serious view of 150 Dalit families in Mirchpur village in Hissar district being forced to leave the village due to alleged massacre by the dominant Jat community, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Haryana government for its response to a petition highlighting their plight.
Mirchpur, located about 145 km from New Delhi in Haryana is a large village comprising about 1700 Jat (dominant caste) households, 250 Balmiki families, 350 Chamar families, 25 Dom families and a handful of Brahmin households.
A vacation Bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.K. Prasad, while issuing notice asked the State counsel to come out with a plan for the rehabilitation of these 150 families, now staying in a temple in Delhi. The Bench asked the local deputy commissioner to be present in the court on June 2 with relevant facts after taking instructions about the rehabilitation plan.
After hearing senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, Jaswant and two others, Justice Singhvi told the State counsel that atrocities had been committed against the people and they were being forced to leave the village was a very serious matter. “We want to know what action has been taken by the Government for their rehabilitation”, Justice Singhvi said.
This Writ Petition arose out of a massacre of Dalits by dominant castes in Mirchpur village, where 150 Dalit families were brutally attacked, two persons were killed, 35 homes destroyed, looted and burnt and 50 houses ransacked and 25 persons injured. Thereafter, repeated meetings of the Khap Panchayat were held in order to continue the reign of terror and to force the Dalit community to withdraw their cases against the accused persons.
Thereafter the entire community of Balmikis of about 150 families were forced to leave the area and “they are now staying in a temple in Delhi. Their children are without education. Their families are without food, clothing and other essentials. Their lives have been disrupted. The Khap Panchayats continue to threaten them.”
The petitioners sought appropriate directions to the Respondents to constitute a Special Investigation Team to investigate the atrocity against the scheduled caste community on April 21 in Mirchpur village; payment of adequate compensation, relief, rehabilitation, immediate arrest of the accused. They wanted the court to frame and implement a scheme for continuous and adequate protection to be provided to all the Scheduled caste families so that they are not under any threat in future.