VHP leader Giriraj Kishore enunciated categorically that even in India 2002, for him and his ilk, the life of a cow is more important than the life of a dalit. That it was a dead cow in the specific context, is another matter. His assertion is entirely in accordance with the tenants of Hindutva with its vicious anti-woman, anti-dalit, anti-religious minority, male Aryan race agenda which many hanger-on forces like to believe they won’t uphold, as it is not part of the ‘NDA Agenda’. Not surprisingly, his assertion brought forth no denial or condemnation from his communal Hindutva family of RSS, Shiv Sena, BJP, right upto the NDA Govt. with its swayamsevak Prime Minister.

As the entire country is now aware, after the aggressive state sponsored Hindu communal attacks on minorities in Gujarat, Agenda Two was played out in Dullena (near Rohtak) in Jhajjar district of Haryana on Dusshera day – 15th October 2002. Subsequent investigations have unravelled the truth about the custodial deaths in police instigated “mob lynching” with either participation of local VHP leaders or their subsequent encashment of it. But the significant fact is that the VHP was and is entirely willing, even anxious, to have these heinous murders laid at its door, as also to use the occasion to make policy statements.

Brutal Murders

Badshahpur, Akalimpur and Tikuli are ‘modernized’ villages on the Delhi-Haryana border in Jhajjar district. In these upper caste dominated villages, most families rear cattle. The couple of dalit families here, are licensed by the Haryana Govt. for disposing off dead cattle and for removing their skin for commercial purposes.

On 15th October, Dusshera, a trader from Karnal came to 58 year old Dalchand, resident of one of these villages, asking for animal skin. He dealt with Dalchand and his 31 year old son Dayachand. The deal was struck; half the money involved in the transaction was paid and the other half was to be paid on delivery at Karnal. A dead cow rotting before the house of one Sugreeve Pandit had been supplied to a young dalit, Kailash, by Rashid of Faruqnagar, who deals in animal hides. The animal was placed in a tempo, and Dayachand, Kailash, along with driver Totaram, and Virender and Raju (one of the latter two was the driver’s assistant) set off for Karnal with the caracass.

National newspapers on 17th October informed of five dalits’ killing a cow being lynched by a 2000 to 5000 strong mob returning from Dusshera festivities. The site was the police post in Dullena near Rohtak, 50 kms from the village of Dayachand. The police were described as being guilty of being mute spectators. The facts eventually unravelled were, however, different and if possible, worse.

Several reporters, a Janhastakshep led team from Delhi, and many other sources, have made out the following sequence. There are, apparently, no villages in the near vicinity of the police outpost. The policemen posted there probably stopped the tempo to demand a bribe (that too one adequate for a festive day). The demand either was not or could not be met.

Subsequently, the police either instigated the local communal elements to organize a mob or these communal elements got to know of five dalits with a dead cow being in police custody, and cooperated with the police in organizing such a mob. The five dalits were lynched to death in what has been described as a process lasting for four hours. The Janhastakshep team has, however, categorically stated that the killings were not simultaneous but took place one by one. The driver, Totaram, infact, was first taken to Faruqnagar by the police, probably to verify the source of the dead animal, and killed after being brought back. He was not allowed to talk to anyone at Faruqnagar and Rashid is reportedly now under intense police pressure. The report has also categorically denied the existence of a ‘2000 strong mob’, and pointed out that if local people had participated in the killings, they can be immediately identified from among the nearby villages. If they are not among these villagers, it means they were people specifically brought for the ‘action’ from outside – thus a totally organized crime.

Facing an immediate hue and cry from various non-BJP non-NDA political parties (NDA partners did not even condemn these murders, which speaks volumes about the all pervasive hold of casteism), Haryana CM Chautala ordered an enquiry at DSP level on 18th October. The local police immediately registered two cases – one against the five dead for cow slaughter, and one against an ‘unknown’ mob for the death of the dalits. They also sent the cow’s caracass for postmortem, to ascertain whether the dalits killed it or it died naturally! It shows their utter faith that a dubious report or any pointer to the former position could save them despite five murdered human beings.

A ‘red alert’ was declared in the area on 17th October, following VHP’s open warning to the police to not arrest anyone connected with the killings. They need not have worried; alert or none, nobody was even named. Arrests have occured ‘voluntarily’ now after an ‘agreed’ list of names was prepared in consultation with local Hindutva leaders. Chautala has no intentions of upsetting the NDA’s or his own applecart. BSP Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, as well as other prominent BSP spokespersons have not taken up the issue beyond cosmetic condemnation and monry distribution, the Govt. in UP is under threat, and what are five more dalits, it is the dalit share in state power that must be saved, no matter to whose use that state is put to.

Udit Raj is among the dalit leaders to go to the area. To ‘punish’ the Hindu upper castes, he organized mass conversions to Buddhism – Ambedkar’s panacea for caste oppression. It was his claim that several of the families of the victims converted thus – anyhow the conversions were not very ‘mass’. Within days a Hindu seer was in the area, organizing a press conference to inform that the victims’ families had ‘denied’ converting.

There must be assessment. Is this the solution, to put the traumatized families between these two counter-pressures? Is conversion any solution at all for this social problem, grounded in land denial, and the feudal inequalities of India? It is not enough to pay lip service to Mandal – the Mandal report categorically substantiates that land reforms alone hold the key to abolition of caste oppression in India. It is a clarity the recent dalit conference convened by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister tried to evade, by calling for distribution of vacant Govt. lands to dalits.

Meanwhile, besides compensation, the families of the Jhajjar victims should get jobs and protection. Urgently needed is immediate, unequivocal, severe punishment to the guilty policemen, for custodial murders, for casteism, and to the leaders of the killers if any civilians were actually involved, as well as identification and prosecution of any others who participated in the killings.

This last is as important because the Hindutwa forces have now brought in the theory of ‘mob actions’. Babri Masjid was razed because the mobs did it, post-Godhra state sponsered, organized Muslim killings is ‘anger’ of masses of people, and now this too is ‘people’s sentiments’. In another aspect, the hunting down and beating up of Valentine’s Day-celebrating couples in Kanpur by VHP goons was also ‘general anger’ against those influenced by the imperialist culture which the BJP led NDA Govt. has allowed into the country.

Heinous though it is, violence on dalits is neither new nor inexplicable in India where caste is a major contradiction of society. Indian ruling classes, including political parties like BSP, have no intention of putting through land reforms for land to the tiller, which alone can wipe out the material basis for caste oppression. Rather land reform laws are being reversed in favour of MNCs and contractual farming. All mediavial, backward antagonisms are being played up with new intensity to distract and divide people. Anyway the past few years of intensifying economic crisis have seen a significant rise in violence against dalits. Increased assertiveness on the part of the latter is also bringing such cases to light. But this particular Jhajjar incident is important because it gives this violence a stated legitimate place as part of an agenda of a particular ideology. This Hindutwa ideology has set itself out anew to cohesify the most reactionary Hindu communal upper caste male chauvinist sections into an election winning machinery on one hand and to serve imperialist exploitation on the other. What it will result in is to increase, bind and to justify all such isolated incidents under this reactionary war cry. Thus it needs special vigilance, special condemnation and widespread mobilization against, by democratic forces.

All the while, instances of anti-dalit violence continue to surface. A dalit woman was stripped and beaten in Amritsar this September consequent to a property dispute. Post Dullena, OBCs beat up dalits in Tamil Nadu (known for its social reform movements) till their families ran to promise that there would be no further ‘defiance’ from them. In Panipat district of Haryana, on Diwali day, five dalits were beaten up for skinning a dead cow. Police ensured a ‘compromise’ where the guilty went scot free. It is necessary for democratic organizations and individuals to address this problem which is only being used and aggravated by Hindutwa forces but actually exists as a major contradiction in Indian society.

A Report of a Fact Finding Team from Delhi

Lynching of 5 Dalit Youths at Dullena Police Post in Haryana on 15th October, 2002

The ghastly events in Jhajjar on 15th October, 2002 show that not a single policeman has been booked for the murder of 5 dalit youths who had a valid licence from the State to skin any dead animal including cows, and sell the skin in the open market. If RSS activists are against skinning of all dead animals, including cows, have they issued any directives to their cadre to not wear any footwear made from animal skin?

A fact finding team from Delhi went to Gurgaon and Jhajjar on 20th and 22nd October, 2002 to find out the truth about such cold blooded murder committed within the premises of Dullena police post under Jhajjar police station. The following was the sequence of events on 15th October, Dussera evening.  When Sri Atal Behari Vajpayee, at Ram Lila Ground in Delhi, was enjoying the burning of Ravana and his family members with the light and sound of  pollution spreading crackers, at that time within some few km adjacent to the boundary of Delhi, 5 Dalit youths were burnt alive for no fault of their own. Are we living in a civilized society?

As narrated by the public and by relations of the murdered persons:

The killed persons Birender and Dayachand were relations and residents of Badshahpur and had licence to skin dead animals and to sell their skin. Totaram belonged to village Aklimpur and was driving a Tata 407, number HR 26 D 9030 in which the processed skin was being carried. Raju was a cleaner and lived in Tikli village. All these four persons belonged to Gurgaon district of Haryana. In that vehicle there was another person called Kailash of Karnal in Haryana and he was an authorised dealer in processed skin. On  Tuesday the 15th October, around 3 o’clock in the evening, these 5 persons started from Badshapur for Karnal with animal skin on Tata 407 as on the next day i.e. Wednesday, a large number of traders of  animal skin  from various parts of the state come to Karnal regularly to trade in skin.

When the vehicle reached Faruqnagar, Rashid, the authorised skinner of dead animals of that area collected an unclaimed dead cow from the road and sold it to Kailash for Rs 200 as he was not allowed to skin the cow at the authorised place at Faruqnagar due to Dusserah festival and the local BDO was not available it being a holiday. They loaded the dead cow in the same vehicle and left for Karnal.

At around 7.30-8 p.m. the same Tata 407 came back with Totaram as driver and with constable Hoshiar Singh of Dullena police post. Local people led the constable to the place where the dead cow had been lying unclaimed and all the people present there clearly told the constable that it was nothing but a dead cow and was sold by Rashid, the authorised person. They saw Totaram at the driver’s seat and his face was swollen, indicating that he was beaten up before he was brought back to Faruqnagar. He was ordered not to talk to the people present there. These people also told us on 22nd October, that constable Hoshiar Singh was sent there on the consecutive three days to tell them that they should not say to anyone that the cow was dead, otherwise they would have to face the consequences. When we asked them the whereabouts of Rashid, they could not say where he was; being afraid of his life he must have gone undergroud.

When the fact finding team met the relations of the murdered families on 20th October, they showed us the photos of the dead bodies which clearly showed that the living human beings were first tortured like animals, then their bodies were cut to pieces, some bodies were even burnt at several places and the eyes were taken out. Relations of Totaram, the driver, who was ordered to go to Faruqnagar with constable Hosihar Singh of Dullena police post, could identify him only from his clothing because his head and limbs were separated from the body, eyes were taken out and so on. Totaram’s brother and a neighbour who went to take the dead body from Jhajjar were informed that he was the last person to be killed and it happened around 10 p.m. at night when the entire police establishment of Haryana was present at the police post Dullena and he was brought back by the Haryana police to be killed in most inhuman manner. Relations of the dead persons told us that the team was carrying around Rs 70,000 in cash as they do in every trip so that they can carry on some trade in skin and this was known to the police as they passed that way every week. Police had returned the dead bodies, but not that cash etc. Police FIR says that 5 unknown persons were lynched by a mob. How was it that their families were contacted after the killings, to dispose of the dead bodies? Some neighbours of Totaram told us that one driver called Rajender saw a crowd of 10-15 persons in front of Dullena police post and the police had thrashed three persons and a dead cow was lying in front. Tailor master Vijay, while returning from Jhajjar to Faruqnagar around 6 P.M. on public transport, saw the same situation in front of the police post.

What the law and order machinery had to say:

When we reached the Dullena police post located around 8 km from Jhajjar town; there was hardly any settlement nearby except one or two families living around half a km away. There were some industrial establishments in the neighbourhood but on the 15th, it being a holiday, no one was there. We enquired for the police post incharge, SI Dharam Vir, but he was not available. So that well known face who accompanied Totaram that day and threatened Faruqnagar people for consecutive three days, constable Hoshiar Singh, faced us and tried to explain that day’s events. By that time a large police force landed at the police post and DIG Marwah of SC/ST commission came out of car number DL8CG 4927. When he was told that SI Dharam Vir was not there, Hoshiar Singh refused to answer his next question as to since when he had stopped coming to the police post. So actually, after 15th, SI Dharam Vir was kept out of bounds for public. There are three rooms in the police post complex and we  were informed that 5 dalits reached there around 6 P.M. and Kailash was kept in one room and the other 4 in another room. Rumour was that though these people regularly pay their ‘hafta’ to the police post, that day the demand was fabulous as they were carrying a dead cow and they refused to pay more extortion money. FIR no. 451372 of 15th October 2002 was prepared at Jhajjar police station at around 10.15 P.M. and it claims that the incident occurred at around 8.30 P.M. It does not mention the names and addresses of the victims, though they were in police custody since 6 P.M. on 15th October, 2002. In one room we noticed patches of blood both on the walls and on the floor. This is on the eighth day, though every effort was made to clean the room after 15th incident. No one was allowed to take photographs of that room. When we asked the officer of SC/ST commission, after his enquiry was over, about his observations, he refused to comment. We also requested DSP Narender Singh who was accompanying SC/ST Commission representative, about that day’s incident. He told us that around 8.30 P.M., on receiving the call, he started from his office for Jhajjar with some police force and found that some thousands of people had surrounded the police post. He also said that city magistrate, Rajpal Singh, BDO, Sajjan Pal, Nayab Tehelsidar, Shyam Lal Bari were all present with the large police force. Neither firing in the air nor tear gas was used to save five lives that, according to DSP and the FIR, were lodged in one room. The FIR says the mob overpowered the state power and lynched the 5 dalit youths in the presence of Haryana police. Why no criminal and killer was arrested till 22nd? DSP’s answer was that police have identified the criminals and action would be taken very soon! Why SP, Mohammed Akil, being young and dynamic officer, did not visit the site even once? DSP naturally refused to comment. People said in anger that he being from the minority community refused to face an angry crowd mainly belonging to RSS and the latter assembled there with all types of weapons to take revenge on the killers of their ‘Go Mata’ or mother cow. DSP also said that another FIR was lodged against those 5 Dalits for killing the live cow on the complaint of some people but he refused to give us a copy of that FIR in which the names of those people would be mentioned. Thus police is working on the instructions of these anti-social Hindutva forces and it is completely biased.

The police story, that there was a huge crowd and the police was helpless, appears fully incorrect because on the 8th day, when we were within the boundary of the police post, we found all the tender flower plants in front of the rooms blooming with beautiful flowers and not a single plant was trampled on by anyone. There was a huge quantity of bricks meticulously stacked near the building and it appeared that no one had touched those bricks in the recent past. On the road side there was some thatched cover and it was burnt, black ashes were still there as witness. The place where the cow was slaughtered, as claimed by the police, in drain no. 8 within a distance of one-fourth kilo-metres from police post, was checked by the team, but there was no visible evidence that any animal was cut there during the last 7-8 days.

State politics

The well known crooked Chief Minister of Haryana refused to go and see the carnage site on 15th or 16th morning. He was touring Jhajjar on 22nd when the team from Delhi visited. He was laying foundation stones for various projects but landed at Badshahpur on 24th morning, meeting relatives of the ‘killed’ persons and had a press conference in Delhi in the evening. He ordered Commissioner level enquiry into the incident, knowing fully well that it was a case of allowing trained ‘killers’ to murder people in police custody. RSS and its front organisations are running a gurukul type organisation in Jhajjar and one of its leaders reached the spot on 15th with 20-25 followers fully equipped with murderous weapons. Police knows each one of them and that day there was a sports meet in the gurukul and VHP and Bajrang Dal activists were present in large number. The criminals had called a Jhajjar bandh on 16th and threatened the police to not arrest any one found guilty of killing those 5 dalits and police obliged them shamelessly. Ms Sonia Gandhi, opposition leader in the Parliament and Congress President, was present at Badshapur on 20th with a contingent of hi fi congress stalwarts and gave some charity to the hapless people but refused to instruct her party cadre to see to it that no dalit or any person from  minority community is killed afterwards in any part of the country. BJP being a party to this inhuman act had no face to meet any dalit in Haryana.

Our demands:

1.         A high level enquiry by a sitting judge of Supreme Court should be held and this mockery of enquiry by a bureaucrat should be stopped. To carry on any impartial enquiry there should be immediate suspension of the police officials on duty that day.

2.         Next of kin should be adequately compensated and one member from each affected family should be given a job in the Govt.

3.         The Chief Minister is under oath to protect life and property of each citizen of his state and on his failure in discharging his duty, he should be asked to tender unqualified public apology to the people of Haryana.

4.         Non-Hindutya forces should mobilise and educate people and isolate these stinking and violent communal criminals.

[Report released by Janhastakshep]