Monday, June 18, 2001 (Hasnapur):

In Hasnapur village, Devidin Singh, a thakur, is accused of murdering a Dalit woman Tejni, along with one of her relatives and children after she reportedly refused to take back a complaint accusing Devidin Singh of assaulting her. There is grief and rage in the village in reaction to this horrific incident.

In retaliation to Tejni's refusal to withdraw the complaint, Devidin Singh allegedly killed her and in more senseless violence, killed three children, one of them being a one-and-a-half-year-old infant.

Kamla Devi, one the deceased's mother, said, "It's unbearable to think that my 10-year-old daughter was raped and murdered. The little child was injured and was bleeding terribly."

Rajesh Kumar Rai, SP, Fatehpur, said, "One police officer has been suspended after he was found guilty and we have arrested one of the accused."

Just a week ago, five Dalits were said to have been killed by thakurs in Aligarh, violence that the Bahujan Samaj Party has used to attack the BJP-led state government.

Mayawati, vice president, BSP, said, "Not just Dalits, but people from all castes are being targeted here. The government should resign and President's Rule should be imposed."

Sunday, June 17, 2001 (Hasnapur): Five Dalits have been killed in the Hasnapur village of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place this morning when some upper caste men beat up members of this Dalit family with lathis killing two women and three children.

It is believed that there was personal enmity between the upper caste people in the village with the Dalit family that led to the attack. So far no arrests have been made in the case as the accused are absconding.