Mirchpur, a village in district Hissar of Haryana. On the morning of 21 April, 2010, 18 Dalit homes were torched and 2 Dalits 17-year old Suman and her 60-year old father Tara Chand were burnt alive. It was pre-planned attack on the Dalits by Jat community and police didn’t help Dalits and in addition Khap panchayats supported Jats that led Dalits to leave the villages.
The house of Tara Chand was set on fire resulting in burning alive of the father and daughter on April 21, 2010, after a dispute between Jat and Dalit community of the village.
After 8 years the Delhi High Court on Friday overturned the acquittal of 20 persons in the 2010 Mirchpur Dalit killing case .
A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said 71 years after Independence, instances of “atrocities” against Scheduled Castes by those belonging to dominant castes have shown “no sign of abating”.
“The incidents that took place in Mirchpur between April 19 and 21, 2010 serve as yet another grim reminder of ‘the complete absence of two things in Indian society’ as noted by Dr B R Ambedkar when he tabled the final draft of the Constitution of India before the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949. One was ‘equality’ and the other ‘fraternity’,” the bench said in its 209-page verdict.
The high court also upheld the conviction of 13 persons by the trial court and enhanced the punishment of some of the convicts.
With today’s verdict, 12 out of 33 convicts are sentenced to life imprisonment for the offences, including murder under the IPC and committing mischief by fire or explosive substance by a member of a community other than SC/ST, intending to cause damage property of a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community under the SC/ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act.
The court held that there was a deliberate targeting of houses of members of Balmiki community by members of the Jat community and common object in the case was to “teach members of the Balmiki community a lesson and this has been fully achieved by the accused persons.”
It said the fine amounts collected from the convicts shall be utilised by the Haryana Government as part of the provision of pecuniary relief and rehabilitation to the victims.
The high court pronounced the verdict on the appeal of 13 persons challenging their conviction and sentence by a trial court in the case.
The victims and the police had also appealed in the high court seeking enhancement of punishment awarded to the convicts and acquittal of others.
The trial court had on September 24, 2011, convicted 15 of 97 men belonging to the Jat community. Two convicted died during the pendency of appeals.
In October 2012, the 98th accused, who was earlier absconding, was tried and acquitted by the trial court.
