Jind: The stir by residents of Mirchpur
and adjoining villages demanding fresh probe into the killing
of two Dalits in the village last year, spread to new areas on
its ninth day today with protesters blocking highways in Hisar
district, damaging a state roadways bus here and disrupting
movement of trains.
The agitators from the predominant Jat community, who
have been staging a sit-in on railway tracks here in support
of their demand for the last eight days began a dharna on
the railway line near village Ramayan on Hisar-Bhiwani route,
disrupting movement of trains on Hisar-Rewari section, Station
Superintendent Hisar Radhey Sham Meena said.
As the agitation spread to adjoining Hisar district,
protestors blocked the important Hisar-Delhi and
Hisar-Chandigarh highways at village Mayyar and village Sarsod
respectively badly affecting traffic on the routes.
The window panes of a Haryana Roadways bus of the
Rohtak depot were smashed by the protestors near Julana
village in Jind district.
Six companies of paramilitary force personnel were
deployed in Jind district late this evening. The protestors
also blocked the Jind Panipat railway line by squatting on the
track at Sunderpur village near Jind.
Meena said Gorakhpur Dham Express running between
Hisar and Gorakhpur will run through a diverted route via
Sadulpur, Loharu, Rewari, Gurgaon and Delhi.
The Hissar and Jind depots of the Haryana Roadways
have cancelled bus services following the protest resulting in
various national and state highways passing through the two
districts being blocked.
All inter-district roads leading out of Jind to
various destinations within the state and neighbouring states,
including Punjab and Delhi were blocked.
The protestors, who have been squatting on the tracks
at Julani village near Jind railway station since January 15,
blocked three rural link roads at Jalalpur, Daryapur and
Eantal in the district today.
Suresh Koth, convenor of the Jat Mahapanchayat of 42
Khaps or caste councils which had issued the call for the
protest, told reporters at the dharna site that the protest
would continue till the acceptance of their demand.
Claiming support of 121 Khaps (self-styled caste
councils), he said members of the Maha Khap Panchayat were
ready to talk to government officials at the dharna site but
their delegates would not go to meet any official.
Railway traffic on the Jind-Jakhal section of the
Delhi-Ferozepur route has been disrupted due to the sit-in
protest which has been going on for the past eight days.
Long-route passenger and goods trains have been
diverted via other routes while some local passenger trains
have been cancelled.
The villagers are protesting the booking of 98 members
of the pre-dominant community in the case relating to the
killing of 70-year-old Dalit Tara Chand and his 17-year-old
daughter Suman in April last year.
A Delhi court had on January 9 directed the Haryana
government to move all the 98 accused from Hisar jail to New
Delhi's Tihar prison following the transfer of their trial to
a special court in Delhi by an order of the Supreme Court on
December 9 last year, after the aggrieved party had approached
the apex court claiming that a fair trial was not possible
within the state.
The protesters are demanding that the probe be held
either at Rohtak or Hisar and the accused be lodged in either
of the two jails.
They are also demanding that a Special Investigation
Team (SIT) be formed to probe the case.
The stalemate could not be ended even after the
Haryana government, through Power Minister Randeep Surjewala,
told the protesters that a CBI probe would be recommended into
the case relating to the incident.
The protesters accused the state government of
misleading them by not taking any stern action on their demand
for a fresh probe by saying that the matter was before the
Supreme Court.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 21:23