M A I N   N E W S

Another winter in tattered tents for Mirchpur victims 
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service

Hisar/Mirchpur, December 26
As Hisar shivered at 2.1°C on Thursday, five notches below normal, the battle for survival got tougher for the caste violence-affected Dalit families of Mirchpur village living in makeshift accommodation at a farmhouse near here.

Rajesh Kumar and his family in front of the worn-out tent in Hisar on Thursday. Photo: Banshi Lal

Among the worst sufferers are the elderly, children and infants. Even as the 70-odd families brave the biting chill in worn-out tents, they refuse to return to the comfort of their Mirchpur homes, citing security concerns. Rehabilitate us away from our village, they say in chorus, the fear palpable in their voice.

For Rajesh Kumar and his family of eight, including five children and his aged mother, it is a battle against the chill and cold winds every day. Both he and his wife furiously sew away at their tattered tent. They must finish before sun down.

Malha Devi, a septuagenarian, craves for a restful night’s sleep. “I have acute pain in the ribs and my joints are inflamed because of the cold weather. I can’t sleep at night.”

Suraj Mal is dissatisfied with the steps taken to rehabilitate them and feels let down by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who had visited the village after the incident.

“I took Rahul around the village and showed him the burnt houses. He promised he would talk to his mother (UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi) and help us, but we are still waiting. I heard he also visited relief camps in UP’s Muzaffarnagar to meet violence affected people,” says Suraj Mal.

A group of Jat youths torched houses of Dalits in the village following a minor scuffle on April 21, 2010. Tara Chand (70) and his physically-challenged teenage daughter were killed. Fearing a repeat of such an attack, the 120-odd Dalit families of the village fled to Delhi.

In December 2010, some families returned to Mirchpur, but most made the Hisar farmhouse their home. The CRPF has been deployed in the village ever since.