Evicted from their houses on the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, six Dalit families of Palampur in Kangra district could not protect themselves or the children from biting cold as locals prevented them from taking refuge in temple.

The reason, they belonged to a poor schedule caste community.

The incident came to light in Thakurdwara area of Palampur on Thursday where district administration carried out demolition drive to evict encroachers from government land.

However, the ordeals of the people who were evicted out of their homes in the middle of nowhere, didn’t end here.

When the evicted families along with children tried to take refuge in a nearby temple to beat the cold, they were not allowed to stay there by the locals as they belonged to SC community.

This resulted in homeless families spending the night under the sky, shivering in biting cold.

“On the basis of the complaint of victims, we have filed a case under SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 against the accused who allegedly indulged in caste based discrimination,” Deputy Superintendent of Police, Palampur Rajinder Sharma, told The Statesman.

Police is further investigating the case and strict action will be taken against the culprits, he said.

The evicted families told media, they had been staying at the site from past many years and the eviction drive has left them in a lurch, with nowhere to go to protect themselves and their children from winter blues.

The worst sufferers are the children of these Dalit families who are facing brunt of drive as their exams are scheduled to begin in March.

The Divisional Forest Officer, Palampur BS Yadav told The Statesman that action was taken against these illegal settlements on the orders of DFO Cum Collector Court, passed on 27 December, 2017.

“We had already given notices regarding the removal and dismantling of the illegal constructions, but they failed to relocate to another location.

Only then our officer stated this drive in pursuance of the HC order,” he added.

The High Court (HC) in its order had directed the officials to disconnect the electricity and water connections provided to all illegal structures on government land and removal of encroachment.

“Six illegal establishments were removed during the process,” he said.

Though there seems to be some respite for them as the administration has taken cognizance of their plight.

“The process of rehabilitation is going on and we will provide all necessary help which administration can,” Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Palampur Pankaj Sharma said.