Agencies/Ballabhgarh, Haryana

Police in Haryana have arrested four men over allegations that they burnt alive two low-caste children, an official said yesterday, a case that triggered a street protest and drew condemnation from opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Authorities ruled out caste violence as a motive for the crime but India has a long history of such incidents, and the attack will feed concerns over rising intolerance after the rumour-fuelled killing of a Muslim man by a Hindu mob recently.
Yesterday, two men carried the bodies of the dead children wrapped in white shrouds during a protest by about 1,000 people who blocked a major highway to the northern city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal monument, and argued with police.
Police in Haryana said a group of men killed the children, a girl of eight months and her two-year-old brother, by setting alight gasoline poured through the windows of their home in Ballabhgarh district, about 50km from New Delhi.
The parents, who belong to the Dalit community, were also injured in the attack, a state police official said.
The incident was a family feud and not related to caste violence, however, said Jawahar Yadav, an official from the office of Haryana’s chief minister.
“This is a fight among families, not about castes. It is an unfortunate incident,” Yadav told television channel CNN-IBN.
The Haryana government yesterday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
The family has alleged it was attacked by men belonging to a higher caste, in revenge for separate killings a year ago, the state police officer said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to discuss the case with the media.
Family members could not immediately be reached for comment.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked the Haryana government which is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, for a report on the incident.
Rahul Gandhi visited the district and criticised federal and state officials for not making better efforts to protect poor people.
Gandhi said the attack was a result of “saffron policies”.
The Haryana government had failed on the law and order front and “atrocities” on Dalits were on the rise, he said.
“This is not a government of the weak,” said Gandhi. “This is an attitude shared by the prime minister, the chief minister and the BJP-RSS. If somebody is weak, they can be crushed.”
Besides Gandhi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat, former federal minister Kumari Selja, Haryana Janhit Congress (Bhajan Lal)leader Kuldeep Bishnoi and National Commission for Scheduled Castes member Ishwar Singh visited the village to meet the family.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the incident as “shameful” for the nation.
“What is happening to India? Violence and hatred everywhere,” he tweeted.
Caste-related violence has gripped India for decades.
In August, clashes erupted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat after police arrested a young leader of the influential Patel clan who organised a rally to demand more government jobs for his community.
Last month, a village council denied allegations that it ordered two young sisters to be raped because their brother eloped with a higher caste woman. The disavowal followed an international outcry triggered by the purported ruling.