About six years after two dalits were burnt alive in an inter-caste violence in Mirchpur village in Hisar district, the CRPF
troops deployed there to maintain peace were withdrawn by the Union Home Ministry on Friday.
The CRPF troops were withdrawn with the consent of Haryana Government.
“Now, a 20-member committee has been formed to maintain peace and harmony in the village,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajender Singh Meena.
He said that CRPF was deployed in Mirchpur after the incident when a group of villagers belonging to upper caste had torched over a dozen houses belonging to dalits on April 21, 2010 in which a 17-year-old polio-stricken girl Suman and her aged father Tara Chand were charred to death.
Around 75 CRPF personnels were deployed in the village after the incident.
The Mirchpur incident was a reflection of longstanding and deep-rooted acrimony between dalits, considered as the lower caste and Jats, considered as upper caste in Haryana.
The incident was triggered by an argument between some dalit youths and upper caste men after a person from the latter
faction had thrown a stone at a dog which was barking at him. He was passing
through a dalit locality in the village.
An armed group of villagers stormed the locality housing dalit families and set about a dozen houses ablaze. While the able-bodied fled, the disabled girl Suman was trapped inside and her
body was recovered by firemen. The girl’s father Tara Chand, who was badly burnt in the incident, died in the hospital later.
The SP said that Haryana Police has been deployed in the village now.
“Members of Valmiki community have confirmed that brotherhood prevails in the village and now there is no need of CRPF,” he said.
Following an assurance given by both communities, CRPF has been withdrawn, he added.