Report sought on social boycott of SCs in Hisar

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a report from the Haryana government on a plea by members of the scheduled castes community against the social boycott being faced by them for over two years on a dispute with the “dominant” community over drawing water from a hand-pump.

A bench of justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai told a counsel appearing for Haryana government that this was a “serious” and the police have to take action.

“There are allegations about social boycott and atrocity. Police have to look into it,” the bench said.

The bench told the counsel to take instructions from the authorities concerned and be present with a senior police officer along with a status report on November 8, the next date of hearing.

It was contended before the court that the members of scheduled caste community in a village in Haryana’s Hisar district faced a social boycott from July 2, 2017.

The plea sought a direction to the CBI to take over the probe and prosecute those against whom complaints have been filed with the police, as not even a single person has been arrested so far.

“As a result of the social boycott imposed by respondent number 3 (organisation), the Dalit community have been blocked from free entry into residential areas and fields which they have exercised for decades. They have been blocked from accessing ration shops, dairy shops, hair cutting saloons and the water supply has been sporadically stopped forcing the Dalits to approach the administration,” the plea said.