PABNAAWA KAAND Agitated after the recent elopement and marriage of a Dalit man with a woman from the landowning Ror community of the same village, the 400-strong mob barged into the settlement, Ambedkar Nagar, on Saturday night, and not only ransacked houses and shops but also damaged the localitys water tanks and six borewells, besides injuring three persons. Residents are now forced to procure drinking water from adjoining villages. As for the couple -- Surya Kant (26) and Meena (21) - they have been in a protection home since their April 8 wedding, and the Kaithal police are guarding them on directions of the high court. After the attack, around 50 villagers including Surya Kants relatives reportedly left the village for an undisclosed location. The police have registered a case against - with around 30 expressly named in the FIR - and deputed heavy force in the village, but made no arrests. When HT visited the village on Monday afternoon, Dalits were huddled in a dingy lane at the centre of the ransacked locality. They were particularly annoyed with area MLA Sultan Singh Jandola, considered a prominent Ror leader, who has stayed away. An independent MLA, Jandola is a chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. He could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Resident Mohan Singh pointed out that though the district administration had given security, no efforts had been made to restore water supply. The mob damaged cooking utensils and LPG stoves, and took away cash and jewellery, he alleged. Apprehending another attack, Jaipal, whose shop was ransacked, demanded immediate arrest of those named in the FIR and also compensation to the victims. Superintendent of police (SP) Kuldeep Singh simply said the matter was being investigated: The guilty will soon be brought to book. We have formed a peace committee to prevent any further conflict. Rajiv, another Dalit resident, insisted that the marriage had indeed broken the bhaichara (brotherhood) of the village, but noted, The Rors now want to take revenge from the entire Dalit population and hatched a conspiracy to kill us. They had been asking us to hand over Meena to them, even when she married as per her free will and is staying with her husband at a police protection home. Rors are a farming community who claim to be descendants of the Marathas who had fought the Second Battle of Panipat in the region and settled in pockets of Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts now. Their dominance stems from their ownership of significant chunks of land, though they are not otherwise considered high in the caste hierarchy. SC panel chief visits today PL Punia, chairman of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (NCSC), will visit violence-hit Pabnawa village in Kaithal on Tuesday, said a release issued by the Kaithal district administration. Over 200 Dalits residing in Pabnawa village, around 25km from Kaithal, were lucky to have lost no lives to a violent mob of the dominant Ror community on Saturday night, but have been left without water supply since.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 03:50:44 +0000
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