Jat leaders accuse Haryana govt of "misguiding" high court with regard to 2016 stir, threaten to re-start agitation

Rohtak: Jat leaders on Wednesday accused the Manohar Lal Khattar government of “misguiding” high court by presenting “incorrect information,” so that the cases against community members registered, following the 2016 arson and violence in the state during the agitation for reservation, could not be withdrawn. They also threatened to re-start their agitation for their demands including quota in the state. [caption id=“attachment_5122221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. IBN[/caption] The Punjab and Haryana High Court on 30 August had restrained the Haryana government from pursuing withdrawal of 407 FIRs registered in pro-quota violence cases of February 2016. The court had directed the judicial officers in Haryana not to proceed further in the cases where cancellation reports have been filed by police. “The government presented incorrect facts in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and misguided it following which the court restrained the Khattar dispensation from the withdrawal of criminal cases against Jats registered post-2016 violence,” All India Jat Aarkashan Sangarsh Samiti president Yashpal Malik said. He charged the Haryana government with misguiding the court to save its ministers, legislators and MPs who were “instrumental” in arson and violence during the Jat agitation in 2016. “False cases were registered against Jats after the violence,” he said after chairing a meeting of the organisation’s state office bearers. The government is presenting “incorrect facts” in the Punjab and Haryana High Court so that the Jats could not get justice, he said. He said that the government is deliberately dilly dallying the benefit of reservation for the Jats in the state. “There is an undeclared emergency in the state,” he said while vowing to re-start the agitation by the members of the community across the state. Malik said the meeting decided to ask the members of the community to get ready for a fresh agitation through “peaceful” manner. It has also been decided to make electorate in poll-bound Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh aware about “atrocities” on Jats in Haryana, he said. In Haryana, Jats are a politically influential community and constitute nearly 29 percent of the population. Jats, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Tyagis and Bishnois, are seeking reservation under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. The Haryana government has given special backward status to Jats with 10 percent quota to five castes. However, the Supreme Court has set aside the notification that granted OBC status to Jats. At least 30 people had died, and damage worth thousands of crores was witnessed to public and private properties during violent protests by members of the Jat community in February 2016 in Haryana.