Haryana told to arrest all Dalit attack accused by Monday

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Thursday slammed the Haryana government for its failure to arrest all those who looted and burnt Dalit houses in Mirchpur village in Hisar district April 21 and told it to arrest by Monday all accused who are on the run.

If those responsible for committing atrocities could not be arrested then what right does the director general of police have to continue in office, asked an apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly.

If Haryana police is incapable of arresting those wanted in the Mirchpur case, “then we will ask some paramilitary force to arrest them”, the court said.

The court also wanted to know what the chief secretary of the state was doing. The court said that all those wanted in Mirchpur attack on Dalits should be arrested by Monday.

The court said that all those who have committed the crime should be brought before the law and be made to account for their sins.

It may be recalled that April 21 this year people from the dominant caste attacked and burnt the houses of Valmiki community in Mirchpur in which 70-year-old Tara Chand and his disabled daughter Suman were burnt alive.

This led to an exodus of Dalits from the village.

Taking note of the failure of the government to rehabilitate the Dalit victims, Justice Singhvi told the Advocate General of Haryana H.S. Hooda: “You do not allow them to live then should we direct the neighbouring state to accommodate them.”

The court also took note of the fact that things have come to such a pass that Dalit children of Mirchpur were not going to school.

Senior counsel Colin Gonsalves told the court that a 14-year-old Dalit girl died of shock after she was scolded and humiliated in the school.

Directing the government to provide two quintal wheat to each of the Dalit family in the village within seven days, the court asked the state to furnish all the records in support of its claim that it had given 65 people hundred days’ employment under a central government scheme.

Justice Singhvi told Haryana’s advocate general that “apart from legal issues we are concerned with the humanitarian aspect of the plight of the victims”.

Justice Singhvi further said that “all the people who are uprooted should be settled and protected. They should not live under threat”.

The court was told that 52 people involved in the Mirchpur incident have been arrested and remaining would be arrested soon.

This prompted Justice Singhvi to ask if the remaining accused have gone to Dubai or fled to other states in the country.

The court was also given a report by the advocates from the office of the advocate general on Mirchpur incident. The court said that the copies of the same should be given to all the parties in the case.