Chakatal village of Atrauli tehsil of Aligarh district is in the lime light once again. As the gram pradhan elections are coming close, the dispute between two families who are being rivals since 36 years has started. This is the only village in India where rivalry among two families upon the gram pradhan elections has taken more than 40 lives.
This bloody rivalry is between two families belonging to brahmin and Jat community that is being continued since 1989. This village of Aligarh which is 120 km away from Delhi, has once again put the police and administration in worry as the gram Pradhan elections are close.
Election of nearly 59000 village panchayats in UP are due which include the Chakatal village of Aligarh too.
These election are to be held in december. The siege has started between these two families as the elections are about to happen and the police is keeping a close vigil in this village so that history does not repeat itself.
It's a rivalry between two families that has taken more than 40 lives since the rivalry started. It may again spell trouble for the district administration and police in the panchayat election at Chakatal village in Aligarh district.
The families of Devendra Sharma and Dumbar Singh Jat are daggers drawn at each other since 1989 over the seat of village pradhan. Both Sharma and Singh lost their lives in their bloody rivalry. One belongs to a Brahmin family and the other to Jat one.
In the current panchayat polls, the two families are again heading for showdown in Chakatal that has been declared a sensitive constituency. The peacekeepers in view of the bloody past rivalry of the two families are at their wits' end on how to solve this row.
Chakatal village falls in Atrauli block of the district. Dumbar Singh was the first victim of the rivalry. He was murdered in 1989 by the family members of Devendra Sharma.
Dumbar Singh's family has fielded their contestant against the contestant of Devendra Sharma's family for the polls. Chakatal village is dominated by the Jat and Brahman communities and is divided along caste lines in the panchayat elections.
The rivalry between the two families began in 1989 when cattle disease erupted in village. The villagers decided to appease their goddess by burying alive a pig. At that time Pradhan Dumbar Singh buries the pig in a field belonging to his arch rival former Pradhan Devendra Sharma.
Members of brahmin community expressed their anger and protested the Dumbar's act. Then followed a series of taking lives. Dumbar Singh was the first person who lost his life in this conflict.
A villager, Prakash told that they were never sure who would be targeted next. Despite the bloody rivalry, no police came up in the village.