Mirchpur votes half-heartedly

Separate booths had been set up in areas,where majority of the voters were Dalits. In three such polling stations set up,the numbers of votes polled were even less — by 4 pm,Dalits had polled only about 36 per cent votes.

The village had hit national headlines in April 2010 when an elderly Dalit,Tara Chand,and his physically-challenged daughter were burnt to death after a crowd of the dominant Jat community burnt down balmisi houses in a fit of rage. The incident brought AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to the village,as also several other state leaders.

However,in the run up to the elections,the candidates chose to ignore the village fearing a dilution of the Jat and non-Jat vote bank. “None of the contestants wanted to be associated with either of the two groups,as the matter has been politicised a lot,” said a local.

Following a stark caste divisions in the village,the villagers had held a panchayat meeting,in which it was decided that the issue will not be allowed to be politicised any further. The Jats of the village are unhappy with both the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal for having not done enough for the over 100 Jats who were arrested following the incident. The Balmikis,on the other hand,are nursing a grudge that majority of these accused have managed to go scot free. They have been alleging that they continue to be ostracised by the Jats.

A special trial court will hear arguments on the sentence of the 15 found guilty for the Mirchpur deaths on Friday. As many as 82 of the accused were released after the court said that it has found nothing against them. While three of the accused were found guilty under Section 304 of the IPC,12 will get off with lighter sentences.