Perhaps fearing a repeat of last year’s caste violence that left a 70-year-old and his disabled daughter dead, besides 18 of their homes reduced to ashes, many dalit families have left Hisar’s Mirchpur village in the face of the agitation by upper caste jat khaps or caste councils.
The jats want the trial in the Mirchpur case restored back to Hisar from the special court in Delhi where it was transferred on orders of the Supreme Court last month. The protesters, who have blocked the main Delhi-Ferozepur railway track in Jind for the past six days, are also demanding the return of 98 jat youth arrested in connection with the case from Tihar Jail.
Though the protesters have tried to reassure dalit residents their demonstration was in no way directed against them, more than a dozen families have left Mirchpur’s Balmiki Mohalla for “safer” places.
The Hisar district police however denied there had been any dalit migration from the village. “These are mere rumours. We have deployed a big force there and will maintain peace at all cost,” a senior police officer said. Both the police and the district administration are understandably nervous.