Apex court tells Haryana to protect Dalit victims

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Wednesday said courts cannot solve problems linked to social prejudices and conflicts, and directed Haryana to provide protection to the victims of caste violence in Mirchpur village in Hisar district.

The apex court’s vacation bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice C.K. Prasad said the failure to provide protection would be viewed seriously.

The Dalits (Balmikis) of Mirchpur were targets of violence by the dominant upper caste members April 21. As many as 150 Dalit families were driven out of the village after an arson attack on their homes in Hisar district, about 300 km from Chandigarh.

The court’s observations on problems arising out of social prejudices and conflicts came while hearing a petition seeking protection for the violence victims.

“Of course, the court can’t solve this problem. This suffers from social and mental roadblocks. If they sit across the table, things could be sorted out,” said the bench.

“If someone takes the law in his hand, it is not good,” the court said, adding that it would not allow any one to take law in his hand.

Justice Singhvi said it was unfortunate that in Haryana these incidents take place frequently and without any sensitivity.

Justice Singhvi asked Advocate General of Haryana H.S. Hooda to recount how many times in the past such incidents have taken place.

The advocate general recounted the incident of Gohana village in Sonipat district wherein the murder of a Jat by a Dalit led to the burning of Dalits’ houses in the area.

Going into the genesis of the problem, the court wondered how the dominant communities could unleash the violence simply because a dog belonging to Balmiki community barked at boys from the Jat community. And this resulted in the arson attack and the death of a man and his handicapped daughter.

Justice Singhvi said: “Even a dog could not be killed on this ground (of barking).”

He said: “If this was the case, then all the dogs would have been killed.”

Pulling up the state government, the court said it should have conducted a thorough probe and fixed responsibility of the senior officers. The court said that local station house officer (SHO) and the naib tahsildar were at the lowest ladder of the state administration.

The court wanted to know when the SHO informed the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Hisar, about the possibility of violence. The court asked what the SSP and the deputy commissioner did to prevent the incident.

The court’s terse observation about the conduct of the state government came when Hisar Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Singh Khyalia told the court that the local SHO and the naib tehsildar have been arrested. He admitted that there was delay in taking prompt action.