People's Democracy

SFI Condemns Gohana Atrocity

THE Students’ Federation of India (SFI) condemned the attack on the dalit households in Valmiki Basti, Gohana, near Sonepat in Haryana and demanded the state government to immediately arrest all those involved in the incident and accord them severe punishment. It called upon the entire student community to rise in unison and protest this inhuman attack on September 3.

A team of SF1 leaders along with other like-minded mass organisations visited the site of the atrocity. According to them, the attack on the dalit households was not a spontaneous outburst of anger as some people were trying to project it. “It is a pre-planned attack carried out with ulterior motives and not just an act of ‘miscreants’. Some vested politicians who are known for their casteist bias and contempt for dalits and other backward sections are behind the people involved in the attack. It is no wonder that these very sections were those responsible for the attack on dalits in Jajjhar, three years ago”, the SFI statement noted.

The police had information about the impending attack on the dalits and instead of taking steps to protect the dalits have ‘advised them’ to flee from their houses. Though this might have saved the lives of people, it resulted in the loss of valuable and hard-earned property of dalits in the selective and targeted gutting down of their houses. Thus even the police cannot wash away their hands from the incident. Unless the state doesn’t show its will in enforcing rule of law in Haryana, these type of incidents in the name of caste panchayats will continue at the behest of the upper caste feudal landlords, the SFI stated.

SF1 demanded a thorough judicial inquiry into the entire incident and stern punishment for those responsible for this outrage. The state government should immediately compensate the property of all the dalits who have lost all their belongings in the fire including valuable documents and books.