Court asserts inability to compel return of village departees

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has emphasized that individuals who departed from Mirchpur village in Hisar district following the purported caste violence in 2010 cannot be forced to return to the same village. The court observed, “At this stage, the counsel representing the petitioners has failed to dispute the report submitted by the home department, Haryana, as those petitioners who opted to relocate from Mirchpur village cannot be compelled to return to the same village.” The High Court disposed of a petition that sought the resettlement of those who had left the village after the alleged incident.
The division bench of the high court comprising acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi

Gupta passed these orders while disposing of a petition filed by Jaswant Singh and others. The bench, however, made it clear that the petitioners may approach the competent authority in case they face any difficulty.

The matter had reached the HC after the Supreme Court (SC) in August 2015 had transferred a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Dalit victims of Mirchpur village to the Punjab and Haryana high court to look into their rehabilitation.
While referring the matter to the high court, the apex court had made it clear that the HC would deal only with the rehabilitation.

According to the petitioners, state government had not taken adequate steps for rehabilitation of the Mirchpur violence victims. It was further argued that even after five years of the incident, some victims were still living in tents.

During the hearing, an affidavit was filed by the special secretary to government of Haryana, home department, placing on record a report dated March 1, 2016, from the DC Hisar. As per the report, some families continued to stay in the village, while some others had left the village but had returned and were staying there and were safe.
Some of the families have chosen to live outside Mirchpur village, the report added.

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