KUMHER: Life for the Jatavs of Kumher won’t be the same again, They are scared forever.
Compensation may help us, but it won’t wipe away the bitter memories,” says a doddering middle-aged man.
Behind him lurk burnt-out adobe houses. Pointing towards them, he says. “These will go away soon, but scars in the mind will remain forever.”
Kumher, where incident of June 1,3 . And 5 involving Jats and Jatavs led to the massacre of 14 Jatavs, is still tense. An air of gloom hangs over the plane. They talk in hushed tones, with ear writ large on their faces. The mood is one of despair and cynicism.
Life for us, at least for the present, is a day-to-day proposition, Who knows what will happen tomorrow?” says Nemi Chand.
Leaders of political parties have been descending on the town since the massacre to give solve and succor to the fear-stricken people, It is the turn of a BJP delegation comprising Sikander Bakht, Uma Bharati, K.L.Sharma, Kalica Das and Rati Ram Verma.
But the Jatavs don’t set much store by such visits. “What is the use after so much blood has been spilled?” asks an angry Rajinder Singh. He had the misfortune of losing his father during the Jat mobs attack.
The 4,000 Jatavs of Bara Machalla (Kumher has a population of 20,000) are one in planning the police for the killings. “Here protector turned predator,” says an elderly Goverdhan Singh.
The partisan role of the police, they allege brought them to grief. The villain of the piece is considered to be the Additional SP, Mohan Singh, who is a Jat. It was he who carried out the June 6 predawn raid on Bara Mohalla in which 10 kg of explosives and five hand-grenades were seized from the Jatavs, “It was a ploy to render us weaponless. The Additional SP went out of his way to be hostile, alleges Goverdhan Singh Continuing with his version of the Maal Goverdhan Singh says “Later that day, Mohan Singh went to the Jat panchayat at Pargore where the attack on Bara Mohalla was planned. He gave the Jats the go-ahead to attack set on us.
I also allege that the Jat MP and MLAs of the area Kishendra Kaur Deepa (BJP MP from Bharatpur), Nathi Singh, Janata Dal MLA from Kumbher, Arun Singh, independent MLA from Deeg, and Vishvenra Singh of the Bharatpur royal family were present in the panchayat at Pangore, the third one in a series. All the four are Jats. The allegation, of course, has no substance, “It is an utter lie,” says Arun Singh, Giving an eyewitness account of the massacre, Hani Singh says” The mob came in trolleys and attacked us from all sides, We ran helter skelter, There was no police in sight. And after almost an hour we had 18 dead. When the survivors went to register an FIR, they were turned back.”
Adds Hari Singh: “Our women were molested. When they ran for safety to the police station, they were mistreated.” Our leader Bane Singh in Bharatpur sent an SOS, to the district collector (about the attack on Bara Mohalla) He didn’t respond.”
About 250 people were said to have fled the mohalla at the time of attack. “We have got about 20 people back. No news about the remaining,” says Ram Singh,
About 300animals were also said to have perished when the mob set the houses on fire.
As he fills one in on the incident, the BJP team is swamped with all kinds of requests. Krishan Lal, a man in his early forties, says with folded hands, “Please see to it that those who have our blood on their hands don’t go scot-free, We should get all the help that is promised,”
Already Rs.1 lakh has been given to the families of each of the 14 victims: (Official figure),
Thirty seven people have been Founded up for their involvement in the incidents. To instill a sense of security, the SP, Kapil Garg (he has been transferred to Jaipur), has retained a large number of police in the mohalla and on the periphery of the town,
Queried about the allegedly partisan role of the police, he says: ”We did our best under the circumstances was in Kumher with 300 men when the 6000 strong mob attacked the mohalla. We confronted them, used teargas and fired. No killing took place in my presence, But 300 men could not be deployed everywhere. I immediately requisitioned reinforcement from Bharatpur.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992
