Following media reports and complaints by residents of Kanawani village of being terrorised by members of the Gujjar community and facing apathy from district officials and police, JN Chamber, secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), on Sunday paid a visit to the area to take stock of the situation.
Chamber is expected to submit a report of his findings about the incident to the commission for further action. He met the victim families and also visited the school that was vandalised despite strong security presence in the aftermath of the clash between Jatavs and Gujjars nearly a week ago, which left one dead and several injured.
A day after the visit of Chamber, Noida Police on Monday registered an FIR against more than a dozen people of the Gujjar community under various Sections of IPC and Harijan Act. Police took the step on a six-day old complaint by a Jatav family, which had alleged that Gujjars had ransacked their homes, misbehaved with the women and threatened to kill them. The family, after meeting the chairman, had also blamed police callousness in
providing safety and security to Dalits (Jatavs).
Bhagwan Sahai and his wife Ramwati had lodged a complaint in which they had alleged that Inder Kasana, Satram Kasana and Brijpal Kasana — all family members of the village head Deshraj Kasana — along with a dozen people had barged into the homes of Jatavs. The attackers had wanted them to leave the village forthwith, else face their wrath. While the police took note of the complaint, it never found mention in the General Diary (GD). Police filed an FIR against 19 Jatavs but gave the Gujjars a free run.