This is a fact-finding report on a case of Dalit atrocity in Chandni Village of Sirmaur, where a middle aged Dalit couple, Jagiya Ram and Santosh, was assaulted brutally on 16th September 2020 by a group of general caste men who were forcefully erecting a fence a piece of land that they (the Scheduled Caste family) had bought in the village.
Jagiya Ram, resident of Chandni, had purchased 1.9 bighas of land from another general caste member in 2016 and since then had faced harassment by the assaulter family, also residents of the village who were laying their claim on a part of the land. While the dispute was still being heard by the revenue court and a final decision was pending, the general caste claimants on 16th September started erecting a barbed wire fence around the land that they alleged was theirs.
While Jagiya and Santosh received treatment in the Civil Hospital at Paonta and an FIR has been filed in the matter, the initial FIR did not invoke sections of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. This was done later after pressure by social action groups. Further, while the accused were arrested initially, a cross FIR was filed and they were given bail by the High Court on the 25th of September. Jagiya- Santosh and their family have received police protection – however, the matter remains sensitive and they continue to live in fear and insecurity. The investigation officer is to submit his complete report soon. However, there is a need to highlight this case for several reasons:
- the history of caste discrimination in Sirmaur district, often invisibilised in mountain regions. This region of Himachal Pradesh saw the brutal murder of Kedar Singh Jindan, an RTI activist, in 2018.
- the apathy and lack of sensitivity of the police and administrative authorities on action in cases of caste violence
- the poor conviction rates in cases of caste violence (Himachal Pradesh has then less than 10% conviction rate as per the NCRB report for 2019)
- the growing conflict around issues of land and access to resources for marginalized and Scheduled Caste communities in the region
- the accused and their supporters exercising counter pressure through communal and casteist propaganda on social media
The fact finding was conducted in October 2020 and this report was submitted to the National Scheduled Castes Commission, National and state Human Rights Commission and other authorities in November 2020
Members of the fact finding team
