New Delhi, June 28
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking setting up of a special investigating team (SIT) to probe the alleged forceful conversion of Hindus in Haryana’s Nuh district.
Sorry, the plea is dismissed, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana told senior advocate Vikas Singh, who was appearing for the petitioners.
Singh told the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, that two of the petitioners had visited the area and met people there including the family of 21-year-old Nikita Tomar, who was shot dead outside her college in Ballabgarh in October last year.
“We do not think we can entertain this petition based on newspaper reports,” the bench observed.
One of the accused in the murder case identified as Tausif was trying to force the student to marry him.
In March this year, a fast-track court in Haryana’s Faridabad had sentenced two men to life imprisonment for Tomar’s murder.
The plea, filed in the apex court through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, had alleged that life, personal liberty and religious rights of Hindus in the areas of Nuh are being “continuously eroded” by members of the minority community who are in a “dominating position” there.
The petition, filed by a group of lawyers and a social worker based in Uttar Pradesh, had claimed that the state government, district administration and the police have failed to exercise their powers due to which the life and liberty of Hindus, particularly of women and Dalits, are in jeopardy and they are bound to lead “life under sword” of the dominant group there.
It had sought the top court’s direction for constituting a SIT, comprising members from the CBI and the NIA, under the supervision of a retired apex court judge.
It had said the SIT should probe instances of alleged forceful conversion of Hindus, illegal execution of sale deeds of their properties, atrocities committed against Hindu women and girls, encroachment made on public land, conditions of temples and religious places and also cremation grounds existing in the area.
It had said the authorities should be directed to rehabilitate Hindus at their respective properties and restore all temples, places of worship and cremation grounds, which been encroached upon by any member of society, in their original form.
Referring to the Census 2011, the plea said the total population of Mewat district was 10,89,263 in which Muslim population was estimated to be 79.20 per cent, Hindus comprised 20.37 per cent and the remaining 0.43 per cent were Sikh, Buddhist, Jains etc.
“It is relevant to mention that there are about 431 villages in Mewat-Nuh. As many as 103 villages have become totally devoid of Hindus. In 82 villages, only 4-5 Hindu families are left,” the plea submitted, adding, “There is significant decline of Hindu population in the district of Mewat-Nuh giving rise to a demographic change which will be disastrous for the unity of the nation.”
