Apex court slams rail, road blockades (Lead)
November 1st, 2011 - 9:51 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday said frequent “rail roko” and “rasta roko” protests that last for long durations were causing misery and hardships to the common man.
“We are in the central part of the country. The security forces, if not able to prevent such agitations, proceed in the matter. But in other parts of the country it goes on for months thus making miserable the life of the common man,” said the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya.
The apex court said this during the hearing on a petition seeking prosecution of people belonging to the dominant caste who indulged in an arson attack on a Dalit settlement in Haryana, killing two people.
The petition was filed by Jaswant Singh, a witness in the arson attack case.
A 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically challenged daughter were killed in Mirchpur village in Haryana’s Hisar district April 21, 2010 in the incident.
A trial court Monday awarded life imprisonment to three of the 15 convicts in the case which was transferred to Delhi on the directions of the apex court.
Police earlier initiated action against 98 accused from the dominant caste, prompting their sympathisers to launch an 11-day road and rail blockade.
In a veiled reference to the blockade in north India by the Gujjar community seeking reservation in jobs, Justice Singhvi said that “two years ago everybody was victim of what had happened on Agra-Bharatpur road”.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves told the court that the total loss suffered in the Haryana agitation was Rs.33 crore and the state government was reluctant to identify the accused.
The court said that “once mobocracy starts, no identification is possible” and added that when police took action they were blamed and if they did not, they were still blamed.
The court asked Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman to give suggestions on dealing with situations arising out of agitations obstructing the movement of rail and road traffic, causing hardships to people.
The judges directed the transfer of similar cases pending before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High court to itself.
The court said that it would, on the next date, take up Gonsalves’ plea for the rehabilitation of the victims still staying outside the Mirchpur village.
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- Mirchpur violence: Apex court pulls up Haryana government - Jan 31, 2011
- Mirchpur violence: Apex court tells Haryana to rein in protesters (Lead) - Jan 31, 2011
- Mirchpur violence: Supreme Court pulls up Haryana (Lead) - Mar 28, 2011
- Jat agitation: Haryana quizzed on compensating railways for losses - Mar 28, 2011
- Mirchpur protests: Apex court asks for steps to recover losses (Lead) - Feb 21, 2011
- Mirchpur protests: Apex court asks for steps to recover losses - Feb 21, 2011
- Dalit killing case shifted out of Haryana (Lead) - Dec 08, 2010
- Breather for government in apex court this week - Feb 20, 2011
- Supreme Court to rule on mercy killing plea this week - Mar 06, 2011
- Mirchpur case: SC asks Haryana Govt. to identify those who demonstrated - Mar 07, 2011
- Mirchpur violence: Delhi, Haryana told to protect witnesses - Feb 15, 2011
- Mirchpur incident: Jats to call off protest - Jan 26, 2011
- Court notice on plea against Telangana agitation - Nov 11, 2011
Tags: agitation, apex, apex court, arson attack, blockade, caste, common man, convicts, court bench, crore, gonsalves, hardships, hisar, jaswant singh, life imprisonment, north india, petitioner, rail roko, senior counsel, solicitor general