Supreme Court refuses urgent hearing of plea on Saharanpur

A Supreme Court vacation bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha refused an urgent hearing on a matter related to the recent flare of caste violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sahranpur district. 

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Gaurav Yadav sought a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the incidents of violence that plagued Saharanpur recently. In his petition, Yadav submitted that the situation was “critical” and judicial intervention was required. However, the apex court found no urgency in the matter and observed that the petition may be heard sometime in July. Besides the SIT probe, Yadav also sought compensation for the victims’ family. 

The murder of a lower-caste person in the wee hours of May 24, the second such incident in less than 24 hours, rocked Saharanpur even as the Yogi Adityanath administration struggled to maintain  peace in villages surrounding Shabbirpur, where a Dalit youth was killed earlier this week. Earlier this month, a clash took place when local Dalits objected to loud music being played as 20-25 Rajputs (youths of upper caste Thakur community) from Shabbirpur village were on their way to Simlana village. What began as an exchange of words snowballed in a full blown clash resulting in a death, torching of at least 20 homes and injuring 16 including police officers. 

The death of a youth less than a fortnight later escalated the situation.