Two km further on the highway is the district collectorate. Just as Ram Singh said, cops were manning the entry to Sikandra. From there on, it is 25 km of deserted highway strewn with all debris and tree branches till a toll booth comes up.
There are no workers to be seen. Instead, the booth is being manned by men of the Rapid Action Force. Just two kilometers from the booth, a crude roadblock comes up. This is Gujjar territory. The point is manned by youngsters. Armed with lathis, iron rods and petrol cans, the youngsters are restless and would speak to anybody who would care to listen to their side of the story.
"The police fired on us unprovoked. Three istiriwalas who were doing their work on the roadside were killed. Women working in the fields were killed. The police also threw three of our injured youngsters in a burning truck," one of them says, adding that the bones were in the truck till the morning, when they were removed. They are soon tired of their own stories. Slowly one by one they ask: "Do you know what is happening? When will this end?"
Further down the road is Ground Zero.
On May 24, the police found themselves at the receiving end of a well-planned Gujjar attack and opened fire, killing 18. Not anticipating the intensity of the attack, Dausa district Superintendent of Police P Ramji had assured journalists minutes before the firing, "We are well-equipped to handle the protestors."
The police clearly were not and had to resort to firing after they found themselves surrounded from all sides by a rampaging mob.
As the police retreated, the Gujjars retrieved the bodies of six of their dead and have since refused to hand it over to the government. They are sitting with the six fast decomposing bodies at the site of firing demanding that a central team be sent to conduct the post mortem. "If we hand over the bodies, the police will do something and say these were anti-social elements and hush up the case," Umrao Singh Dhoi, the community leader in Dausa district, said.
Image: The fast-decomposing bodies of 12 Gujjars who died in the police firing in Bayana. The Army may stop the supply of ice to the Gujjars, forcing them to hand over the bodies to the authorities.
Also read: 'Gujjar crisis not handled properly by Rajasthan'
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