Innocents squirm in the shadow of death

In Mitraoun, 70-year-old Sher Singh declares firmly that the “fight will end only when Kapil is shot dead.” His 19-year-old grandson Yashpal was shot dead on September 13 last year by Kapil’s men. His son Satpal is in jail for alleged involvement in one of the scores of cases registered by the police related to the gang war. “It is not a gang-war. That’s what the police want to call it. It’s a clash of clans, jat versus jat,” he proudly proclaims. “If the police don’t shoot Kapil, the boys will. Only a jat can kill a jat. You need a jat police officer to finish off Kapil,” he declares.

For the families of Anoop and Kapil (both are in their late 20s), life revolves around the feud. Says Anoop’s mother Shanti Devi: “I feel bad that my sons have died in all this but why should I stop them when the others are killing our sons! We bought the land for Rs 40,000. It is ours.”

In Kapil’s house, his 40-year-old aunt Satya, is the only resident. The huge iron gates of the sprawling house are always locked. Satya’s brother Rishi Pal was shot dead by the police in an encounter on May 21. “The police are interfering in our matters. The others (Anoop gang) have paid them to hide their own crimes. Go and talk to Kapil if you dare don’t come here,” she says.

Elders say the entire village has changed. Gun-totting policemen go from door to door every evening to instill the fear of law in the minds of the villagers. A permanent barricade has been put on the road that leads to the village, just outside Kapil Gahlot’s house. Outsiders are not welcome and villagers no longer open their doors to strangers. “There is always the fear of death lurking on our heads,” says Trilok Singh, a cousin of Anoop.

The boys in the village are forbidden by their families to leave homes after dark. “They will kill anyone who is remotely associated with the other,” says a villager, whose younger brother was shot dead last year allegedly by Anoop’s men. Adds Bhagwani, whose son Ram Dhari was shot dead in April last year: “The fight between the two families has spread to the entire village.”

Police say that though there are no formal complaints from people in the area, the Kapil gang members sustain themselves through extortion. "Farari mein roti bhi sau rupaye ki padti hai (When you are on the run, even one roti costs Rs 100) and they are using guns and cars. Obviously these people are into extortion. The residents don’t complain because of the fear of death,” says a police officer. Though the police insist that it is a war of criminal gangs, the killings have been restricted only to members of the feuding families or their friends and sympathisers. The two gangs are also alleged to have been involved in procuring fire-arms illegally to gain an edge over the others.

Most of the village boys are unemployed, says Chandgi Ram, 87-year-old former British soldier. Last year in the Class X examination, only two of the 60 students who appeared passed. “If they don’t teach anything at school and there are no jobs, they will obviously become dacoits,” says the old man. Ram says his family too took a beating at the hand of Anoop’s father and uncles decades ago. “We were weak so we swallowed our pride and let go of our land. They took away my young nephew years ago and he never came back. I was injured while serving in the army, if I could walk things would have been different,” he says firmly. The hurt of having lost to another family in the village is still written on his face after all the years.