The issue of the Deoria killings in which six people were brutally murdered and several others got injured on October 2 over a longstanding land dispute between two families boiled over on Monday when locals along with Samajwadi Party (SP) activists registered a strong protest against administrative officials who reached Prem Chandra Yadav’s house to proceed with a demolition order. The residents accused the Uttar Pradesh government of playing “caste politics” and of one-sided action.
On October 2, district panchayat member Prem Chandra Yadav was beaten to death and later Satya Prakash Dubey from a rival group was lynched by Yadav’s supporters along with his wife, two daughters, and a son, said police.
After the incident, police made more than 20 arrests, and the district administration pasted a notice on Yadav’s house, stating that a portion of the structure was illegal as it was on agricultural land, and hence it would be demolished. Also, a fine of Rs 32,000 was imposed on Yadav for encroaching on government land.
On Monday, when police and administrative officials reached Yadav’s house to carry out the land measurements, people from the Yadav-dominated Fatehpur village in Rudrapur tehsil launched a strong protest. “We won’t let the administration demolish Yadav’s house. It’s completely illegal,” a local said.
The protest, which was initially small, snowballed when around 200 people including Yadav’s supporters and Samajwadi Party (SP) workers joined in. “It’s completely unjust. Both the families have lost their near and dear ones in the incident and hence action should be initiated against both Yadav and Dubey’s families,” an SP worker said while staging the protest.
The development came a day after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called the government’s action in the Deoria killings “extreme injustice” and said, “Itna anyay nahi karna chahiye ki log sehan na kar sakein, aur khud khade ho jayein sarkar ke khilaaf (Government should not take such unjust action against the people that they start standing up against the government).” He also blamed UP government for biased action in the matter and said, “Such Injustice amounts to crime. There are reports that BJP leaders are trying to gain political mileage out of the Deoria killings.” He had also announced that an SP delegation would visit the village and try to bring justice to both families.
However, sensing law-and-order concerns, the police tried to disperse the crowd and cordoned off the area. Authorities also restricted the entry of outsiders, including the media, in the village, and also stopped another group of SP leaders who were trying to reach there on Monday.
“We just tried to disperse the crowd since section 144 has been imposed in the area,” said Dr Sankalp Sharma, superintendent of police (SP), Deoria.
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