Haryana dalit attack: Villagers protest as Rahul Gandhi blames PM Modi's attitude

Two children aged 11 and 9 were charred in the attack

The deaths of two dalit children in Sun Perh village of Haryana, after their house was set on fire allegedly by members of the Rajput community has raised tension in the state. Villagers blocked the state highway and refused to cremate their bodies till they got justice.

The attack, which took place in the early hours of Tuesday, killed two-and-half-year old Vaibhav and his 9-month-old sister Divya. Their mother, Rekha, suffered serious burns and she was admitted to the ICU at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the victims' kin in Sun Perh on Wednesday. NDTV reported Rahul Gandhi as saying, "This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, the BJP and the RSS - if somebody is weak, they can be crushed. What you are seeing is the result of this attitude."

Eight policemen, who had been deployed for the security of Dalits in the village, have been suspended. The police have booked 11 people in the case, but only three arrests have been made so far. The rest are absconding.

News agency PTI reported that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had called Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday. Singh asked Khattar to ensure security for everyone and prevent any further violence.

NDTV tweeted that Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar would visit the Dalit family at 2 pm on Wednesday. 

The gruesome incident has also taken a political turn with political parties across the spectrum condemning the incident. Ram Vilas Paswan, BJP's key ally at the centre and in the ongoing Bihar polls, attacked Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. “Haryana government responsible for Dalit killing,” wrote NDTV on micro-blogging site Twitter while quoting Paswan.  

“I had demanded that Golwalkar's anti-Dalit works be burned, but under BJP's rule Dalits themselves are being burned alive...,” tweeted Lalu Prasad as he called upon the Dalits and other backward classes to unite.