Haryana Dalit attack: Villagers block highway, place children's bodies on road

Faridabad (Haryana): Residents of Sunped village near Ballabhgarh here on Wednesday blocked the Ballabgarh-Faridabad highway, demanding the arrest of accused in the Dalit family house burning case.

Some men, allegedly from the upper caste, set on fire the Dalit family's house at around 2 am on Tuesday while they were asleep.

While the two children - two-and-a-half years old Vaibhav and 11-month-old Divya - burnt to death, their mother Rekha, 28, suffered serious burns and was admitted to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. Their father Jitender, 31, too suffered injuries trying to save his family.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today visited the village and met the affected family. Later, he also met the villagers who are blocking the Ballabgarh-Faridabad highway.

The protesters had even placed on road the bodies of the two children killed in the incident.

11 persons, including a father-son duo, have been booked for murder, rioting and other charges, a police spokesman said.

Rahul, meanwhile, 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 attitude is if somebody is weak, he can be crushed. What you have seen is the result of this attitude," Gandhi said.

(With PTI inputs)

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