Dalit-Jat row: Four arrested

HOSHIARPUR: In an early morning swoop, the police arrested four persons belonging to the Jat community from Khajoor Pandori village in a case registered against them under Sections 341, 506, IPC, and Section 3 of the SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Speaking at a press conference, Hoshiarpur SSP Gurpreet Deo said that an FIR had been registered against Kultar Singh, Surinder Singh, Joginder Singh and Harkamal Singh late Friday evening at the Hariana police station on a complaint filed by Charan Kaur, sarpanch of the village.
Charan Kaur had alleged that the accused had manhandled and abused her when she, along with other women, had gone to cut fodder in the fields. This had led to a standoff between the Jats and Dalits of the village. The Jats had claimed that they had merely stopped these women from damaging their crop.
The talks were deadlocked for three days with the Dalits demanding that a case should be registered against the Jats.
The SSP said the police decided to register the case as the allegations made by Charan Kaur constituted a prima facie offence.
The genesis of the problem lay in the fact that Charan Kaur had defeated Karam Kaur, who is a Jat, in the panchayat elections.