Member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Swaraj Vidwan has strongly condemned the murder of a Dalit youth over a trifle at Jhabreda under the Shyampur police station limit on Thursday. However, at the same time, she expressed satisfaction over the district administration having released ex gratia assistance to the bereaved family promptly.
Notably, a Dalit youth Vedpal had been murdered as a result of a minor tiff over watering of crops in the farmlands. It is learnt that Vedpal had expressed anger after the water another farmer Mehkar who owned a land adjacent to the one owned by Vedpal was using to irrigate his land had entered Vedpal’s fields. Relatives and other farmers working nearby had assembled and a clash had broken out. It is alleged that those close to Mehkar had attacked Vedpal and others supporting him with firearms and batons. The clash on, a bullet had hit 20-year-old son of Vedpal. While he had died on the spot Vedpal and his nephew Anit had been seriously injured and referred to a higher medical centre.
Expressing her anguish over the incident, Swaraj Vidwan said that it would remain as a blemish on the fair face of Haridwar, a holy place. “Such an incident should not recur here. Uttarakhand is known as a peaceful state where the people of all castes and communities have been living together peacefully for ages. We are sure that the culprits of the incident would be given exemplary punishment for the crime they committed over a trifle. I wonder why such intolerance is erupting off and on even in a State where such crimes rarely occur,” she said while addressing a press conference at the State guest house here on Friday.
She said that she would come again on May 14 to review the case. “I have not yet met the family of the deceased. I decided not to visit them now as the last rites are yet to be performed. However, I am happy that Rs 4, 12,000 has been given to the bereaved family by the administration,” she added.
She further supported the Bharat Bandh convened on April 2 by the Dalit outfits against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act and termed the apex court ruling on the sensitive matter as a ‘Tughluqi farmaan’.
She also hinted that activists of some opposition political parties had instigated the arson and stone pelting that marked the Bharat Bandh without directly naming Congress. Quizzed over the spike in the crimes against the Dalit community in the BJP-ruled States, she said it was not true.