No difference between Haryana’s Nuh & Pakistan: Committee investigating atrocities on Dalits warned about Mewat in 2020

A peaceful procession was set to be taken out from Haryana’s Nuh on July 31 covering as many as three temples in the region. However, since afternoon, videos and clips of violence have started emerging from the site, where Islamists pelted stones, set vehicles on fire, attacked Hindu shops, vandalised public property, and whatnot.

In 2020, a committee headed by a retired district and session judge presented a report to the government describing crimes against Dalits in the Mewat region. The suggestions and findings of the report were shocking, as the judge said, “Aurangzeb-like atrocities are being committed on Dalits, and there is no difference between Pakistan and Haryana’s Nuh (Mewat)”.

In 2020, Organiser reported, after years of inaction in cases pertaining to Dalit atrocities in Mewat, Shri Valmiki Mahasabha of Haryana decided to form a 4-member inquiry committee led by Judge Pawan Kumar (Retd) to bring the truth to the fore. With Kumar, Sultan Valmiki chairman of Valmiki Mahapanchayat Haryana, Kanhaiya Lal Arya, vice-president Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Haryana and Devdutt Sharma, president of Bar Association Sohna were appointed as members of the team.

After presenting a report to the government, the members of the committee addressed a press conference in Gurugram. In the meeting, Judge Kumar said, “Mewat of Haryana is becoming a graveyard of Dalits. There is no difference between Pakistan and Mewat. There are many such reports of women being forcibly abducted and raped in Mewat”,

About Dalit atrocities, and crimes against women Kumar listed as many as eight barbaric crimes. He said, “We have called 48 victims from the town, out of which 19 showed up at the press conference” Here are the details:

1. A 12-year-old girl was raped by 4 Muslims, and the house where the rape took place was one of the Muslim policemen. Even after a year, there has been no action on that policeman to date.
2. In Ferozepur Namak village, a woman was abducted under the pretext of a job offer. For several days, nine Muslims including one Yusuf gang-raped her. Following this crime, an FIR was registered under section 376 of the IPC but police took no action. Later, the victim was found dead and an FIR under section 302 of the IPC was registered, still, the police took no action.
3. One Sajid abducted a minor but no recovery or arrest was made in this case by the police.
4. One Nizam, son of Isar, along with his accomplices, abducted a Dalit girl at gunpoint. An FIR was registered but the girl was forced to make a statement that she had eloped and married at her own will and converted to Islam.
5. A Dalit girl from Sheikhpur village went missing for months and no recovery was made.
6. One Junaid from Ghasera village kidnapped the mother of two children and forcibly married her. He is now pressuring both of her minor girls to convert to Islam. The father even makes the girls watch obscene messages on his phone.
7. At the time of the marriage of a Valmiki woman from the village of Siroli, 15 Muslim men beat up the bridegroom. They tried to abduct the bride but the village youth managed to stop them.
8. The judge said that other than crimes against Dalit girls and women, there have been hundreds of cases of forced religious conversions and atrocities against Dalits.

According to the press release, “more than 200 cases of forced conversions have allegedly taken place in the region. Because of police inaction, the perpetrators have been emboldened, and pressure is being mounted on the family members of those forcibly converted to get them converted as well”.

Kumar listed some of the cases of atrocities taken place against Dalits in Mewat, here are some of them:

1. During COVID-19, one Yunus was distributing rations at his shop in Bisru village. Vinod, a Dalit boy, asked him to maintain social distancing, however, Yunus and others thrashed him and passed casteist slurs, to date, police have taken no action against the accused.
2. In April 2020, one Arif thrashed Yogesh in Nagina village at his chemist shop, and another man identified as Sakir took cash from his shop at gunpoint. Even after the FIR, no action was taken against the culprits.
3. In April 2020, Atees and others blocked the passage while Rahul was passing by and thrashed him. Although police did register an FIR in this case, skipped sections of the SC-ST Act. Despite the complaint, no action was taken against the perpetrators. The incident took place in Puleta village.
4. In Kiranj village, Kamruddin and others captured plots allotted to Dalits and never vacated it. No action was taken against them for the act, to date.
5. In 2020, Haneef and others abducted a Dalit boy after he asked for his money back. The kidnappers beat him up with sticks and rods and left assuming he was dead. No action was taken in this case, however, the accused did try to pressurize the victim to take his complaint back.
6. In Bichhor village, Ramjilal’s dead body was cut open and set on fire in broad daylight by the husband of the sarpanch Iqbal. Despite testimonies, police declared it a death due to a lightning bolt.

The press release shared by VHP also stated that Dalit weddings are also being attacked and looted. It added that there had also been instances where the brides have been abducted on the day of marriage.

Kumar also raised questions about Dalit organisations. He asked why the so-called sympathiser of Dalits, which have been encouraging Dalit Muslim unity to gain political mileage, have not yet come to wipe out the tears of these Dalits. Why no politician of any political party has not come to help the Dalits despite repeated complaints of these atrocities?

According to the investigation committee, the atrocities against Dalits can happen only in connivance with the administration and local police. Complaints of Dalit victims are not lodged. If somehow they persist with the complaint and file FIRs against the perpetrators, police pressurise the victims, compel them to strike a compromise with the assailants and threaten them with false cases.