Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district have booked an upper-caste farmer and his son for allegedly assaulting and verbally abusing a Dalit woman who tried to collect water from their tubewell. The woman, who works as an agricultural laborer, reportedly faced caste-based abuse during the incident, according to the police.
Moni Nishad, the Station House Officer of Jaspura police station in Banda, said that the case was filed after the victim, 36-year-old Sita Devi, lodged a complaint. She also mentioned that no arrests have been made so far, and an investigation is underway.
The accused have been identified as Rajendra Singh, also known as Badelala and his son Jitendra Pratap Singh, hail from Sikauhula Village. According to the incident, the incident took place on August 6 however, the police registered the FIR on Saturday.
On being asked about the delay in filing the FIR, Sita Devi’s husband, Puttu Sonkar said, he went to the police station for several days to get the case registered.
“I also lodged a complaint about the incident with the police control room. The police finally lodged the case on August 10,” said Sonkar as reported by the Indian Express
Sonkar further said that his wife and others were working in the field of Chandra Shekhar, the cousin of the accused Rajendra Singh, on August 6. But around 2 pm, his wife felt thirsty and went to a nearby tubewell belonging to Rajendra Singh.
What Happened on August 6?
Reportedly Sonkar’s wife and others were working in the field of Chandra Shekhar, the cousin of the accused Rajendra Singh. At around 2 pm, his wife felt thirsty and went to a nearby tubewell to quench his thirst, the tubewell belonged to Rajendra Singh.
“Chandra Shekhar’s and Rajendra Singh’s fields are located next to each other. My wife saw a pot lying near the tube well and picked it up to collect water. In the meantime, Rajendra Singh and his son Jitendra Pratap arrived and started abusing her for picking up the pot,” Sonkar said.
“They used casteist remarks, telling her, ‘You belong to a low caste; don’t drink water from here.’ When she responded, ‘Okay, we are of a low caste; we will go elsewhere to drink water. But don’t abuse me,’ they began to slap her,” he added.
The FIR has been lodged under Sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The police have also invoked the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused.
Discrimination in last couple of weeks
A six-year-old Dalit boy, who was allegedly forced to clean the washroom by some teachers, was found locked in the classroom of a government primary school in the Jansath area, police said on August 8.
Reportedly, the Basic Education Department has taken action against the school’s principal and a teacher. The police said that the incident took place on August 7 when a six-year-old student of class one was found locked in the school classroom, allegedly due to the carelessness of Principal Sandhya Jain and class teacher Ravita Rani.
In another incident, a 25-year-old Dalit man identified as Amit Murlidhar Salunkhe was allegedly murdered in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, by his in-laws from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community. This horrific incident occurred earlier in July, following Salunkhe’s marriage to their
