In chilling Mirchpur re-run, 2 Dalit children burnt alive

In a suspected case of inter-caste violence, two children of a Dalit family were burnt alive while their mother Rekha was battling for life, after their house was allegedly set afire in the wee hours of Tuesday in Sonped village in Faridabad, 40-km away from the national capital.The house was set ablaze allegedly by nine persons belonging to the upper-caste Thakur community.

Jitender, 31, a registered medical practitioner, his wife Rekha, 24, and their two children Vaibhav (2) and Divya (1) were inside their home in Sonped village when it was set on fire. While Vaibhav and Divya succumbed to their injuries, Jitender and Rekha were admitted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital with severe injuries. While, Rekha, who suffered burns on her face and respiratory system, is fighting for her life in the ICU of the burn ward at Safdarjung Hospital, her husband, Jitender, 31, who sustained ten per cent superficial burns on his hands is out of danger. The family’s long standing rivalry with people from the upper caste community is said to be the reason behind 

the incident.

Concerned over the killing of two children, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asked Haryana CM Manohar Khattar to ensure security to everyone and prevent any recurrence of such incident. In a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister, the Union Minister expressed concern over the killing of the two children.

“The Union Home Minister asked the Chief Minister to ensure peace and that such incidents don’t recur in future,” an official said, adding that the Home Ministry has also sought a report from the state administration.

Jitender, in his statement to the police, has named a few people from his village for the attack that took place in the early hours on Tuesday morning. The present incident is suspected to be the fallout of a clash that took place last year between Jitender’s family members and the family of Balwant, a resident of the same village.

Jitender’s brother, uncles and cousins (11 of them) allegedly murdered Balwant’s three relatives. An FIR, No 299, was registered in 2014 at police station – Sadar Ballabhgarh in which all 11 persons were arrested. “All of them are still in jail and are facing trial on murder charges,” said, a Station House Officer at the Sadar Ballabhgarh station, adding that police have booked several people.

“All the accused belong to Thakur community and are presently on the run. We are monitoring the situation and shall nab them soon,” a senior Haryana police officer said. Soon after police came to know about the incident, a heavy contingent was deployed on the spot. Since morning tension gripped the village after Dalits claimed the involvement of upper caste men behind the incident.

Haryana’s DGP, YP Singhal, said, “Our people have reached the village. Heavy deployment of police force has been made to avert any clashes. Today’s incident was fallout of the last year’s incident, wherein three Thakurs were murdered in the same village. Further investigations are on. The accused shall be arrested soon.”

Incidentally, it was almost a repeat of the Mirchpur carnage of Hisar in 2010, when a physically challenged Dalit woman and her father had been burnt alive by the Jats of the same village.