A father and his four sons in Jewar, Gautam Buddh Nagar, have begun an indefinite hunger strike beside five funeral pyres, alleging that their applications for caste certificates have been rejected after years of pursuing the documents through the administration. The family says the certificates are required for their children’s school-related needs.
The protest is taking place in Kanigarh village, where the family has placed posters criticising Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Rupa and appealing to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for intervention. The posters, as reported by Live Hindustan – NCR, say the family wants justice or would rather be allowed to burn themselves alive.
The family is led by Sundar Singh, who says he belongs to the Agaria community and works as a daily-wage labourer to support his household. According to the report, Singh and his four children have been seeking caste certificates for several years but have not received them.
Singh said the applications had moved through the tehsil-level process and reached the district level before being rejected. He attributed the rejection to the district administration’s position that people belonging to the Agaria caste do not reside in Gautam Buddh Nagar. Singh disputes that position, claiming that members of the community live in the village, hold land allotments and include people employed in government service.
The report does not include the district administration’s independent response to the family’s claims or the written order rejecting the applications. It attributes the account of the rejection and the administrative process to Singh.
Singh and his sons reportedly began the hunger strike on October 2. Officials later assured them that the matter would be resolved by Thursday, but the protest was continuing when the report was published on October 8. The family has said it will remain at the site until it receives what it considers a just resolution.
The protest brings the functioning of caste-certificate administration into public view. Such certificates are issued through a verification process involving local and district authorities, and applicants may depend on them for access to education and other public entitlements. In this case, the family’s allegation is that its application was rejected at the district stage despite earlier processing at the tehsil level.
The immediate concern is also the safety of the five protesters, who are sitting beside funeral pyres while undertaking an indefinite fast. The report says the pyres were prepared using cow-dung cakes on an empty plot, with posters placed around the site. It does not state whether medical teams, police personnel or district officials were present at the location.
The family’s protest was continuing at the time of publication despite the assurance attributed to officials that the matter would be completed by Thursday. The next recorded step is the administration’s response to the applications and the family’s demand for intervention.
