Protest by Mirchpur resident continues

Jind, Jan 18 (PTI) The indefinite sit-in on railwaytracks by residents of Mirchpur village seeking fresh probeinto the killing of two Dalits in April last year entered thefourth today, disrupting rail traffic on the Jind-Jakhalsection of the Delhi-Ferozepur route.

Members of the pre-dominant Jat community, includingwomen, were sitting on the tracks at Julani village near Jindrailway station. The protesters belong to Mirchpur andadjoining villages.

Police personnel have been deployed to maintain peacein view of the dharna.

Railway traffic on the Delhi-Ferozepur section hasbeen disrupted due to the dharna, the call for which wasissued by a Jat Mahapanchayat of 42 khaps here recentlydemanding a fresh probe into the Mirchpur incident, includingthe decision to book members of their community.

Railway sources said that trains have been beendiverted via other routes, including Jakhal.

Though Mirchpur village falls in Hisar district theprotesters are squatting on rail tracks in Jind as theirvillage is only 15 kms from here. The protesters postponedtheir plan to stage a dharna in Bhiwani today.

A Delhi court had on January 9 directed the HaryanaGovernment to move all the 98 accused from Hisar jail to aprison in the national capital following the transfer of theirtrial in the case relating to the attack on Dalits allegedlyby members of the upper caste Jat community.

The case relating to the killing of 70-year-old DalitTara Chand and his 17-year-old polio-stricken daughter Suman,was transferred to a special court in Delhi by an order of theSupreme Court on December 9 last year.

The protesters have opposed the shifting of the trialof the case to a court at Rohini in New Delhi and lodging ofthe accused in a prison in the national capital and demandedthat the probe be held either at Rohtak or Hisar and theaccused be lodged in either of the two jails.

The trial was shifted to a Rohini court after theaggrieved party had approached the Supreme Court claiming thata fair trial was not possible within the state.

Tara Chand and his daughter were killed when theirhouse was set afire on April 21 last year in Mirchpur districtafter which 98 members of the Jat community were booked inconnection with the case.