New Delhi: The Haryana government on Friday assured the Supreme Court that it would supply foodgrains free of cost for the next four months to over 100 families affected by the April 2010 caste-driven violence in Mirchpur village of Hisar district. Counsel for Haryana told a bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhhopadhaya that the government would also provide free blankets to each family to sustain themselves during winter at a special camp set up by the government as per an earlier direction of the apex court. The apex court had yesterday sought a response from the Haryana government on giving a rehabilitation package to 125 Dalits who were forced to leave the village after killings of a 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter in April 2010 in the casteist violence.
The court was hearing a PIL seeking monetary assistance for the Dalits who fled Mirchpur village after having been attacked by dominant Jat community there.
The incident had taken place on April 21 last year when a mob of the dominant Jat community resorted to rioting and attacked the houses of Dalit community people as a pet dog of a Dalit barked at a group of Jat youths.
They had got enraged when a Dalit boy objected to hurling of stones by Jat youths at the barking dog, the petition said, adding later it led to the killings of Tara Chand and his physically-challenged teenaged daughter.
The trial court has convicted 15 people in the case, out of which three persons were sentenced to life imprisonment on October 31 this year.
The 15 convicts, belonging to the Jat community, were held guilty for setting ablaze Tara Chand`s house, which had caused his death along with that of his daughter.
PTI