A HEART-RENDING incident of the murder of four persons belonging to a dalit community in Allahabad shocked the residents of the region. The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, where the bodies of a 50-year-old man, his 45-year-old wife, 16-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were found in their house.

The incident took place in Gohri village. According to media reports the police said that the family was attacked with a sharp weapon and that there were serious injuries on their bodies. Additionally, the minor girl’s body was found in a room while the bodies of the three others were in the courtyard of the house.

In another report in the media, it was pointed out, “the relatives of the family told reporters that police had a role to play in attempting to forge a compromise over a land dispute that had raged since 2019 between the family and its ‘upper’ caste neighbours.”

A CPI(M) delegation visited the site of the incident which comprised, Ravi Mishra, state secretariat member, Akhil Vikalp, district secretary of Allahabad, Bhupender Pandey, Vikas Swaroop, J B Yadav and Ashutosh Tiwari.

The delegation found that the police was also hand-in-glove with the accused persons as far as investigation is concerned and was trying to protect them. Instead of initiating action against them, the police arrested one of the relatives of the victims. In this region there is a spate of incidents of attacks on dalits and arson in the recent past and the police has not acted promptly to control such attacks, nor have the culprits been nabbed.

With the intervention of the delegation of the CPI(M) the relative of the victims was released. However, the Party delegation was also taken into custody by the local police. Later by the intervention of local Party leaders and lawyers they were released. This shows the audacity of the police in crossing their limits. This enhances the confidence of the culprits as is witnessed in the present case.

Even in the Gohri incident, the police issidetracking the main issue. Instead of going to the facts of the case which are: old land dispute and dalit atrocities, the police are trying to build it as a case of some ‘love dispute’.

After returning, the delegation of the CPI(M)  later met the additional director general of police, Prayagraj and apprised him of the basic fault lines of the police handling this case. The delegation demanded a fair inquiry into the above case.