Atrocities against Scheduled Castes have shown no sign of abating, Delhi HC on Mirchpur case

Instances of atrocities against Scheduled Castes by those belonging to dominant castes have shown no sign of abating even after 71 years of Independence, the Delhi High Court stated today in its judgment in the Mirchpur violence case..The statement forms part of the 209-page judgement authored by Justice S Muralidhar in a batch of appeals pertaining to the 2010 Mirchpur caste violence perpetrated by members of the Jat community against Dalits..Apart from Justice Muralidhar, Justice IS Mehta was also part of the Bench..Not only did the High Court dismiss the appeal filed by 13 convicts in the case, but it also held 20 more people guilty of the killing a Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter, amongst other offences..“In light of the findings and conclusions of this Court noted hereinabove, it is seen that 20 accused persons previously acquitted by the trial Court now stand convicted for various offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 by this judgment while 21 acquittals have been upheld due to there being insufficient evidence to establish the guilt of the accused. The convictions of the 13 convicted accused in the present appeals have been upheld and, in certain aspects, enhanced.”, the court decreed..In a “planned attack”, 18 houses of Balmikis (a Dalit community) were burnt by an irate mob of Jats, the dominant community in that village. Many Balmikis suffered injuries and their properties were destroyed..The trigger for the crime was the barking of a dog which belonged to a Balmiki resident at a group of Jat youth in the village..The incident forced 254 Dalit families to flee from Mirchpur village in Hissar, Haryana. Out of these, only 33 families have returned to the village, while the remaining continue to live in a farmhouse which gave them shelter post violence.. “The incidents that took place in Mirchpur between 19th and 21st April 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 25th November 1949. One was equality and the other, fraternity.”, Justice Muralidhar remarked..Justice Muralidhar went on to remark that millions of Dalits in India continue to live a “life of contradictions”..“In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man-one value. He (Dr. Ambedkar) asked then, as millions of dalits including the Balmikis of Mirchpur ask even now: “How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions?”, Justice Muralidhar wrote..He also questioned the Haryana government’s move to rehabilitate the displaced Dalit families in a separate township, and not in Mirchpur..“The question is whether this accords with the constitutional promise of equality, social justice and fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual.”.The fact that those Dalit families which decided to stay back in the village did not support the prosecution in the criminal trial itself is “a telling commentary on the fear and intimidation” that the Dalits must still experience in Mirchpur, Justice Muralidhar noted..The Bench concluded its judgement stating that the only way to preserve our Constitution and serve the country was to recognize the evil that induce people to prefer “Government for the people to Government by the people”..The judgment states,. “If we wish to preserve the Constitution in which we have sought to enshrine the principle of Government of the people, for the people, and by the people, let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path and which induce people to prefer Government for the people to Government by the people, nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them. That is the only way to serve the country. I know of no better.”.Read judgement: