Haryana govt had ignored more than 100 intel alerts about Jat reservations stir

The Haryana government had ignored more than 100 intelligence alerts about the Jat stir since June last year, which finally led to the two weeks of violence this February in which 30 lives were lost, 320 people were injured, and crores' worth of property was damaged.

This revelation will most likely feature in former IPS officer Prakash Singh's one-man commission report on lapses by the police and government during the agitation. Singh had said earlier that the lack of action from the police in the early days of the agitation had been deliberate, according to the Hindustan Times.

On 12 April, the Haryana government transferred DGP Yashpal Singal for alleged failure to anticipate the violence despite the intelligence inputs, and additional DGP of the CID, Shatrujeet Singh Kapur, was transferred to the crime branch. Much earlier, at the end of February, IGP (Rohtak range) Shrikant Jadhav, along with two DSPs posted in Rohtak, were suspended for alleged lapses.

Police sources suggest that the violence during the Jat stir was not spontaneous. "Nearly 105 DSIs (daily summary of intelligence) comprising inputs about meetings held by Jat organisations, various khaps and their plans of action were conveyed on a day-to-day basis to government officials during the period (June 2015 to February 29, 2016)," said a senior police official.

The sources added that the build-up to the agitation had started in July 2015, when the Supreme Court quashed a notification from the Centre that had given reservations to the Jats. In December 2015, intelligence agencies had alerted the state government about the agitation in February.

The build-up had been reported to the top levels of the Haryana government, including the chief secretary, additional chief secretary (home), police headquarters, range inspector generals and commissioners of police as well as the Intelligence Bureau.

Formal and informal meetings had also been set up between pro-reservation groups and senior functionaries of the state government to resolve the issue just before the agitation turned violent, the sources said.