Faridabad –Two children of a Dalit family were killed and their parents received serious burn injuries after their house was set on fire in Faridabad’s Sonped village in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the police, nine people belonging to the upper-caste Thakur community were responsible for the attack.
The attack prompted Home Minister Rajnath Singh to call Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. “The Home Minister asked the CM to ensure peace and make sure such incidents don’t recur in the future,” an official said. The Ministry has also sought a report from the state administration.
Jitender (27), a registered medical practitioner, his wife Rekha (24) and their two children, Vaibhav (2) and Divya (1), were inside the house when it was set on fire, The Indian Express reported.
The couple have been admitted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. In a statement to the police, Jitender named a few people from his village in connection with the attack.
According to the police, Tuesday’s incident is suspected to be a fallout of last year’s clashes between Jitender’s family members and the family of Balwant, a resident of the same village. Eleven of Jitender’s relatives — his brother, uncles and cousins — allegedly murdered three of Balwant’s relatives in 2014, following which an FIR (No. 299) was lodged against them at Sadar Ballabhgarh police station. All 11 were subsequently arrested. “All of them are still in jail and are facing trial on murder charges,” the Station House Officer at Sadar Ballabhgarh station said.
Police have booked several people for Tuesday’s incident.
“All the accused belong to the Thakur community and are on the run. We are monitoring the situation and hope to nab them soon,” a senior Haryana police officer said.
Haryana’s Director General of Police Y P Singal said, “Our people have reached the village. Heavy deployment of police force has been made to avert any clashes. A house was set on fire allegedly by members of Rajput families this morning. Two children have died. Today’s incident was a fallout of last year’s incident, wherein three Rajputs were murdered in the same village. In that case, we had arrested 11 persons. Further investigations are on. The accused shall be arrested soon.”