AIAWU, SFI Demand Independent Probe

 THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) and Students Federation of India (SFI) have demanded an independent probe into the brutal murder of five Dalits in Haryana. The demand was made by a joint team of the two organisations that visited the area on October 18.

 The delegation comprised AIAWU president P Ramayya, its general secretary A Vijayaraghavan, and SFI president P Krishnaprasad.

 Having ascertained the details of the gory incident from the residents of village Badshahpur as well as police and other officials, the delegation said the truth could come out only with an impartial inquiry. It also demanded that the Haryana chief minister provide a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the family, and employment to one of the dependents, of each victim. All the culprits must be arrested immediately under IPC 302 and also charged under the act for prevention of anti-SC/ST atrocities.

 The AIAWU-SFI statement quoted the deputy commissioner Mahinder Kumar as saying that the cow purchased from Farroukhnagar was a dead one as there was no injury on its neck or head.

 Another demand the delegation made was that the police post personnel, the city magistrate, the DSP of Jhajjar and Bhahadurgarh who were present on the spot, watched the lynching but did not use force to prevent the crime must be immediately suspended and booked under law. The VHP and Shiv Sena officebearers who submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate, asking him not to take action against the guilty and threatening of dire consequences if any arrest was made, must also be booked.

 According to the reports gathered from the villagers and district authorities, the delegation was of the opinion that no cow slaughter took place in Jhajjar. In fact, five Dalit youth, who were in their twenties, were brutally slaughtered here in the name of religious sentiments. The VHP’s role in this lynching must be severely condemned by everybody, the team said.