Parliamentary panel visits Haryana’s Mirchpur village

HISAR - A 13-member group of the parliamentary committee on the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes Friday visited Mirchpur village in this Haryana district, where two Dalits were killed in an arson attack by upper caste villagers April 21.

“The study group was sent to have first hand information about the facts and reasons that led to this incident, the current situation prevailing in the village and to look into the remedial measures that were taken by the state government,” an official spokesman said.

“The members have particularly visited the houses that were affected by the incident and they interacted with the victims,” he added.

According to official sources, many of the victimised families expressed apprehensions about their safety in the village and demanded proper rehabilitation, somewhere outside the village, be arranged for them.

The Dalits of Mirchpur were targeted by the dominant Jat members after a small dispute. A 70-year-old man and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter were killed and at least 18 houses were damaged in the attack.

As many as 150 Dalit families were driven out of their homes in the village, about 300 km from Chandigarh.

“The study group has also discussed various issues with the state administration. The parliamentary committee, taking into account the facts on ground in the village as well as the response given by the administration, would table its report in parliament during the monsoon session,” the spokesman said.

The Haryana government last month appointed Iqbal Singh, a retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, as an one man commission to probe the incident.