Haryana forensics claim fire that killed Dalit kids started inside room

In a new twist to the burning of a Dalit family in Faridabad days back, forensic experts of Haryana are understood to have concluded that the fire started from inside their house and not outside as claimed by the victims.

The Haryana forensic team has submitted its report to the Central Bureau of Investigation, whose sleuths along with the investigating agency's own forensic experts visited the crime site on Thursday, a day after taking over the case from the state police.

Two children had died and their parents were badly burnt in the incident in Sunped in Faridabad on October 20 with allegations that some upper caste people were behind it.

The team of Haryana experts has reportedly found a half-burnt kerosene oil plastic bottle under the partially burnt bed and a burnt match stick lying on a slab next to the window of the room.

The spot examination revealed "no traces of outside entry into the premises when the alleged attack took place," says the report submitted to the CBI, according to a media report.

The team of experts included Director, Forensic Science Laboratory and Assistant Directors of the Physics and Chemistry divisions of the FSL, Karnal.

However, none of the experts came on record and refused to make any statement.

The reported contention of the forensic report raises questions over the allegation by Jitender, who had said that his house was set on fire by a group of upper caste men from outside. His four-year-old son Vaibhav and eight-month-old daughter Divya had died due to burn injuries suffered in the incident while he and his wife Rekha were injured.

A First Information Report was registered against 11 people on charges of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, rioting with deadly weapon and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. All the 11 people have been arrested.

Haryana Police, in its initial investigation, had said that the attack was linked to a clash on October 5, 2014, in Sunped in which three upper caste people were killed.

When asked to comment on this, Cabinet Minister Capt bhimanyu said mere said, "The CBI is working on the case...let the probe agency do its examination."

Image: The father and relatives of two children who were burnt alive wail as an ambulance carrying their bodies moves past, after a protest against the incident at Ballabhgarh, in Haryana. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters