The wife of a retired Army Havildar died on Monday morning in Delhi’s R&R Hospital after she was set ablaze allegedly by their neighbours who had filed a case under SC/ST Act after a fight between the kids of both families.
As per reports, the matter pertains to Pushpanjali Eco-City Colony in Agra, UP. On Friday evening, Anil Rajawat’s wife Sangeeta had stepped out to buy milk while his twin 8-year-old sons were playing outside with the neighboring children. While playing, Anil’s children had a tiff with their neighbor Bharat Khare’s 10-year-old son. The verbal fight soon descended to a physical one in which Khare’s son got injured.
An irate Khare then registered a case against the Rajawats under the SC/ST Atrocity Act at Tajganj police station.
It is said that Anil Rajawat was made to sit in the Ekta Police Chowki the whole day on Saturday. When Sangeeta and other society residents went there, the ASI allegedly misbehaved with Sangeeta. Anil was let go only at night with the advice that he should ‘settle’ with the complainant to get out of the situation.
It has also been said that the colony residents met with Circle Officer (CO) Mahesh Kumar to deliberate on the application of the SC/ST Act as it is the CO who registers such cases. The residents are believed to have narrated the entire sequence of events. The CO supposedly replied that the withdrawal of the Atrocity Act case depended on the complainant and further investigations would not be undertaken if the complainant agrees.
So a Panchayat was called in the colony on Sunday night. Khare called many of his relatives and it is alleged by society residents that these relatives did not allow the matter to be resolved. Bharat Khare demanded Rs. 10 lakhs as ‘settlement’. When this amount was questioned, Khare’s side said that they would anyway get Rs. 5 lakhs from government (compensation for SC/ST Act cases?), so the settlement would have to be for a higher amount. Anil Rajawat expressed inability to pay such a huge amount and offered to bear the medical expenses of treating Khare’s son.
Further, the Khare side demanded that both Rajawat and his wife should apologize by touching their feet, a demand which Sangeeta refused to accept. The couple, however, did apologize to Bharat Khare and his family with folded hands and Anil agreed to pay them 70000 rupees, which was unacceptable to Bharat.
Later, when Anil was outside with other residents of the colony, he heard his wife’s screams. He rushed to find her in flames on the road and tried to douse the fire with his hands. Others too rushed to help and managed to douse the flames completely. Sangeeta rushed to the military hospital in a critical condition. When her condition further deteriorated, she was referred to Delhi and admitted to R&R Hospital where she breathed her last on Monday morning. In her statement recorded by the Tajganj police station-in-charge, Sangeeta has accused the other party of burning her.
Since the post-mortem is set to take place in Delhi, the Agra police have reached Delhi to record Anil’s statement. Anil has demanded action against Bharat Khare and his relatives for killing his wife by setting her afire. SSP Bablu Kumar has said that a case would be registered based on the complaint of Anil Rajawat after a thorough investigation is conducted and based on the statements of the witnesses.
Residents of the colony Rajkishore and Mahesh Chand said that it was the first time in their lives that they saw someone burning alive. The residents are said to have been extremely traumatized due to this incident and many did not eat that night. They are quite shocked that anyone could easily register a case under the SC/ST Act without as much as checking the merits of the case, and without police doing a preliminary investigation. The case had destroyed Anil Rajawat’s happy family, and now the two little boys were without their mother.
Police have taken Bharat Khare and his family under their protection to prevent any revenge attack by Anil Rajawat’s relatives.
This case highlights how the black and white picture about ‘caste oppression’ painted by Lutyens’ media to target Hindu society is in reality far more grey and complex. Misuse of the SC/ST Act designed to prevent atrocities and oppression is not uncommon. Radical caste-based outfits like Bhim Army and other so-called secular political parties like Congress, RJD, SP have weaponised caste identity and are using it to try and tear Hindu society apart, while Lutyens’ intellectuals cheer from the sidelines.
Hindu society has to realize what it is up against, and that the secular state, media and activists will more often than not exacerbate our internal issues rather than solve them.
(Featured Image Source: UP City News)
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