Jhajjar, November 19
The Dulina Goraksha Sangharsh Samiti, which was spearheading the agitation by villagers in the district in protest against the arrest of six persons in connection with the October 15 lynching incident at Dulina in which five Dalits were killed, today called off the agitation and the proposed Haryana bandh tomorrow.

The agitation was withdrawn following a meeting between the representatives of the samiti and certain leaders of the ruling INLD led by Mr Nafe Singh Rathee, MLA from Bahadurgarh Assembly constituency, last night.

While the administration, which had taken the initiative for the talks, claimed that the agitation had been withdrawn “unconditionally and in public interest”, the samiti said it had withdrawn the agitation on certain assurances given by the administration. However, its leaders refused to elaborate on the assurances on the plea that they were bound by the agreement not to disclose these to the Press. They said they were satisfied with the outcome of the talks.

Mr Rathee and the Deputy Commissioner, Jhajjar, Mr Mohinder Kumar, said the government had assured the leaders that no innocent person would be arrested. But in the case of those who had already been arrested in connection with the lynching of the Dalits the law would take its own course.

Mr Rathee said the vehicles which were impounded by the police on November 13 after a mob turned violent and blocked various roads leading to Jhajjar in protest against the arrests made on that day, would be released only by the courts on “spurdari”.

Regarding the demand of the samiti for the constitution of a cow protection commission and stoppage of the construction of a slaughter house near Nagina in Mewat area. A delegation led by Acharya Baldev of the samiti would meet the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, after his return from the foreign visit.

Mr Rathee said the October 15 incident was a human tragedy. It was also difficult to identify the actual killers.

He said the samiti delegation had been clearly told that the accused had to be brought to the book. He claimed that the samiti had given an assurance that within the next two days the culprits would surrender before the law. Meanwhile, the police would not conduct any raid to arrest the guilty.

The administration also claimed that those who were arrested in connection with the rioting and assaulting government servants on duty would not be released. However, the samiti claimed that its delegation had been assured by the administration and Mr Rathee that the case of those held on November 13 would be considered sympathetically.

It is learnt that the administration has assured the samiti that it would not oppose the bail plea of those who were arrested for rioting.

The talks were held in the precincts of the Jhajjar Gurukul, the seat of Swami Oma Nand, president of the Haryana Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, the highest body of the Arya Samaj. Mr Rathee along with Mr Sat Pal Pahlwan, president of the Jhajjar Yuva Lok Dal, and Mr Naresh Dalal, a prominent local INLD leader, had gone to the Gurukul.

Acharya Vijay Pal of the Gurukul told TNS that the government had assured the samiti that if it was found during the inquiry that any innocent person had been arrested the charges against him would be dropped. He also claimed that the impounded vehicles would be released.

He said it had been decided that a samiti constituted to coordinate the protest against the Dulina arrests would not be disbanded. It would watch the situation so that if the administration backed out of its assurances the agitation would be restarted. A five-member committee was also constituted to continue the dialogue with the administration.