FARIDABAD/CHANDIGARH, Oct 21: Under attack from the Opposition and ally LJP, the Haryana Government today recommended a CBI probe into the burning alive of a dalit family in Faridabad by upper caste perpetrators which left two toddlers dead.
Villagers of Sanped, the scene of the ghastly crime, staged protests thorough the day with the bodies of two-and-a-half-years-old Vaibhav and 11-month-old Divya before the administration persuaded them to lift a road blockade and perform the last rites of the little children.
“Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has recommended a CBI probe in the incident. A SIT has also been formed which is headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Puran Chand,” Khattar’s media advisor, Amit Arya said in Chandigarh.
He said four of the 11 accused have been arrested so far.
The Government has announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation and a job to the victims’ family, he said.
Haryana police chief Y P Singhal said Officer In-charge Ballabgarh Sadar Police station Anil Kumar and seven other policemen have been suspended for dereliction of duty in connection with the incident.
The situation in the village, some 35 km from the national capital, turned volatile when the bodies where brought home. Amid the pervading gloom, wailing relatives received the body.
However, the sombre atmosphere soon turned volatile as scores of slogan-shouting dalits, walking hand in hand, carried the bodies, placed it on the Delhi-Agra highway and blocked the traffic.
Police had to used “mild” lathicharge to clear the highway after which the protesters jammed a bypass.
Khattar, who was to visit the village today, postponed it for tomorrow, apparently because of the protests.
While Vaibhav and his sister Divya had perished in the blaze allegedly set off by some upper caste people who had a running feud with their family on the intervening night of October 19-20, their mother Rekha, 28, suffered serious burns and is battling for life in a Delhi hospital. Their father Jitender, 31, also received injuries while trying to save them.
The killers were alleged to have poured petrol into their house from an open window and set it alight after locking the doors from outside.
As tempers ran high, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visited the village where he accused the Prime Minister, Harayana Chief Minister, the BJP and RSS of practicising “politics of crushing” those who are weak which results in such incidents.
“This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, Chief Minister of the state and the entire BJP and RSS. The attidute is if somebody is weak, he can be crushed. What you have seen is the result of this attitude,” Gandhi said after meeting the distraught family members.
“In Haryana, there is no Government for the poor and poor people are being targeted here which is totally wrong. I have assured the victims’ family that I would do whatever they want from me including pressuring the Government,” he said.
Asked whether he was doing politics over the incident, Rahul angrily retorted: “This is insulting when someone says it when someone comes here. It is not insulting to me. It is insulting to these people. What is a photo op. What you mean? People are dying. I will visit (such places) again, again and again.”
The incident came in for sharp criticism by the Government as also BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP, who termed it as the failure of the saffron party-ruled State Government.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh described the incident as “very unfortunate” and “condemnable”.
“The news of intolerance that we are getting from electronic and print mediums of news are very worrisome. They are issues of concern for us,” he said in Delhi.
“We should not be getting any complaints of intolerance on the basis of caste, creed, religion or sect,” he said.
LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan said,”It is totally the responsibility of the State Government. We have some protection under the Constitution, but law and order is definitely the responsibility of the State Government.”
BSP chief Mayawati termed the incident as “most unfortunate” and even threatened to take to streets if the victim family was not provided adequate security and compensation, and the perpetrators were not dealt with sternly.
She said weaker sections were “feeling insecure especially under the BJP Government at the Centre and states and this is a very serious.”
Haryana’s Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Mohammed Akil said the situation was “peaceful” and being “closely monitored”.
A police spokesman said in Chandigarh the incident had its roots in the murder of three persons at the village on October 5, 2014. The Dalit family to which the two children belonged was allegedly involved in the murders. The accused in the yesterday’s case were related to those murdered in October last year.
Meanwhile, chief minister Khattar announced a Government job for the father of the slain children, Jitender.
He also said that free treatment will be given to the injured mother recuperating at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, a spoksman said.
Khattar also asked the police to immediately arrest the remaining accused involved in the crime.
Eight police personnel have been placed under suspension “for showing grave misconduct in discharging their duties and regular departmental inquiry has been initiated against them”, he said.
Four of the accused– Balwant, Dharam Singh, Kartar and Sanjay– have been arrested. (PTI)
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