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Members of the pre-dominant Jat community, including women, were sitting on the tracks at Julani village near Jind railway station. The protesters belong to Mirchpur and adjoining villages. Police personnel have been deployed to maintain peace in view of the dharna.
Railway traffic on the Delhi-Ferozepur section has been disrupted due to the dharna, the call for which was issued by a Jat Mahapanchayat of 42 khaps in Jind recently demanding a fresh probe into the Mirchpur incident, including the decision to book members of their community. Railway sources said that trains have been been diverted via other routes, including Jakhal.
Though Mirchpur village falls in Hisar district, the protesters are squatting on rail tracks in Jind, as their village is only 15 km away. The protesters will also stage a protest in Bhiwani on Tuesday.
A Delhi court had on January 9 directed the Haryana government to move all the 98 accused from Hisar jail to a prison in the national capital following the transfer of their trial in the case relating to the attack on Dalits allegedly by members of the upper caste Jat community.
The case relating to the killing of 70-year-old Dalit Tara Chand and his 17-year-old polio-stricken daughter Suman, was transferred to a special court in Delhi by an order of the Supreme Court on December 9 last year.
The protesters have opposed the shifting of the trial of the case to a court at Rohini in New Delhi and lodging of the accused in a prison in the national capital and demanded that the probe be held either at Rohtak or Hisar and the accused be lodged in either of the two jails. The trial was shifted to a Rohini court after the aggrieved party had approached the Supreme Court claiming that a fair trial was not possible within the state.
Tara Chand and his daughter were killed when their house was set afire on April 21 last year in Mirchpur district after which 98 members of the Jat community were booked in connection with the case.