Multiple Dalit Murders in Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh
A three member delegation of CPIML visited Mohiuddinpur village in Kaushambi district of UP where three adult members of a dalit family were shot dead when they were asleep, on the night of 15 September. Horilal, his 8-months pregnant daughter and son-in-law were killed by their upper caste neighbours.
The deceased family lived in a small shanty with polythene roof on land that was allotted to them ten years ago through a land patta by the government. The land is located adjoining to the lands of upper caste neighbours who didn’t want them near them. The family belongs to the Pasi caste and the alleged killers are Yadav and Chauhan who wanted to capture that piece of land.
The elder daughter of Horilal told the CPIML team that their neighbours have illegally occupied many bighas of land in their neighbourhood and now want to capture their land too. The killers have protection of local BJP MP and many powerful people in the area which has boosted their morale, alleged the daughter.
The grand-daughter of Horilal said that the killers remained in the area even after committing the three murders but the police had not arrested them. There is no doubt that the administration is protecting the killers.
Horilal’s wife said that the administration did not allow them to take the dead bodies home after the postmortem. The officials themselves buried the bodies on the bank of Ganges after digging a hole with the help of a JCB machine. The family members could not even see the faces of their loved ones in the end.
There were many burnt houses near the murder spot where the family of deceased persons alleged that the killers set their houses on fire after the incident to manufacture evidence that they were attacked, hence to file a counter case on them. While the administration alleges that an angry mob set them on fire after the murder took place.
The CPIML condemned the Yogi government’s deteriorating law and order situation in the state where dalits have to lose their lives for living on their own lands. This multiple murders is only a warning sign for the oppressed people in the state who are forced to live under the continuous terror of criminals.
Before these killings the two parties were already under dispute which was known to the administration but the latter did not take any action resulting in this tragedy. This was a result of utter neglect of the Yogi administration, otherwise many lives could have been saved.
Sadly, even after such a ghastly incident none of the ministers of Yogi government bothered to visit the aggrieved family in spite of the fact that the village where killings happened falls under the constituency of state’s Dy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Out of eight accused named in the FIR only two have been arrested so far. The CPIML has demanded to arrest all the accused and compensation of Rs one crore to the aggrieved family along with proper rehabilitation and jobs to at least two family members. The party has also demanded punitive action against administrative and police officials whose callousness is responsible for this grave incident. The UP government must take serious measures to ensure occupation on all lands lawfully allotted to the dalits and poor in the state.
The CPIML team comprised party's Prayagraj secretary Sunil Maurya, AICCTU leaders Santosh Kumar and Subhash Kushwaha.
