NCRB data reveals that attacks on Dalits in India are on the rise.
Apart from the fact that such atrocities are committed on adults, this caste-based brutality has not spared the minors either! The abuse of children continues. Are children an easy target for casteists?
Recently, a video of a shopkeeper in Panchakulam village near Sankarankoil in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu saying that he cannot give snacks to Dalit children due to village restrictions went viral on social media.
The shopkeeper told the school children, “No one should buy snacks from local shops. Inform your family that snacks will not be provided. The village has come up with restrictions on giving anything to people in your streets”, for which a kid responded “Restrictions.. but why?”, shockingly.
After the video went viral on social media, a case was registered against the owner of the shop and 5 villagers involved in the incident namely Maheshwaran, Ramachandra Murthy, Murugan, Kumar and Sudha.
IG Azra Garg initiated the process to invoke the externment provisions to bar the 5 people from entering Panchakulam village for a period of 6 months.
Justice Padmanabhan, on hearing the case on 21st, in Tirunelveli Special Court against untouchability, issued an order prohibiting the convicts from entering Panchakulam village for 6 months. The shop that refused to provide snacks to Dalit children was also sealed. This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that accused involved in untouchability are banned from entering the area.
Dalit boy fined Rs 60,000 for touching Hindu god’s idol
An idol of a Hindu god has been prepared for the procession in Ullerahalli village, Karnataka. The family was fined Rs 60,000 by the dominant caste for the Dalit boy touching the idol. The village head also informs the family that they should come into the village only after paying the fine.
If God is common to all, why is this punishment only for that boy’s family?
Sexual assault on Dalit children
In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on 7, September 2022, a 16-year-old Dalit girl was sexually assaulted and set on fire by Rajveer and Tarasand in her home after which the girl died despite medical treatment.
Babu Khan sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Dalit girl for 3 days in Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh on August 27. She escaped from there on August 30 and went to Chattarpur police station to file a complaint. But the officers at the police station kicked the girl, beat her with a belt and tortured her.
The Dalit girl’s parents filed a complaint at the police station on the day she went missing. Later, based on the statement given by the girl, which was obtained from her parents, a case has been initiated with the help of the Child Welfare Commission.
Atrocities in Schools Against Dalit Children
On August 20, a 9-year-old Dalit boy tried to drink water from a water pot kept in the classroom in Surana village in Jalur district of Rajasthan for which Shail Singh, the class teacher, severely attacked him. The student, who was seriously injured in the attack by the teacher, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
A 15-year-old boy of class 10 was beaten up by his teacher for a mistake he made in the OMR sheet in social studies exam in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh on September 13. He fell unconscious and despite intensive treatment, the Dalit boy died.
Tamil Nadu is not an exception to such atrocities. In December 2021, Geetha, the Head Mistress of Iduvai Government High School near Tirupur, has forced the Adi Dravidian students to clean the toilets.
Beaten to death for open defecation
In September 2019 in the state of Madhya Pradesh, two Dalit children, Roshini (12 years) and Avinash (10 years), were beaten to death for defecating in public place.
Read more: Two children beaten to death for open defecation!
“As a daily wage earner, I am not able to build a toilet at home. I could not even get government grant for building toilets for the poor”, mentions father of Avinash.
Where else in the world has two children been beaten to death for defecating in the public place?
Statistics of Crimes Against Dalit Children
The National Crime Records Bureau has released statistics on crime incidents in 2021.
According to this statistics, 1287 cases of sexual assault on Dalit children have been registered in the last year alone. Out of this, maximum of 189 crime incidents have occurred in Madhya Pradesh followed by 163 crime incidents in Maharashtra. 89 cases have been reported in Tamil Nadu.
Similarly, 516 cases of sexual assault against tribal children have been reported. 154 crimes have been committed in Madhya Pradesh.
Apart from this, details of assaults such as beating and molestation of Dalit and tribal children are also mentioned in the data of the National Crime Archives. Out of 553 cases of assault on Dalit children reported, Madhya Pradesh leads the list with 131 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh with 111 cases.
150 cases of attacks on tribal children have been reported out of which 46 have occurred in Madhya Pradesh and 38 incidents of attack in Maharashtra.
If India continues to be a reactionary society that tells children not to touch idol of god, not to visit the shop, not to enter a temple, how shameful will it be?
If these people could even treat children like this, isn’t the cultural and traditional pride that is being talked about just garbage?
“Who is discriminating based on caste nowadays?”, this repeated question/comment being said in the society is the peak of stupidity.
Links
Dalit rape victim set on fire dies of burns in Lucknow
uttar-pradesh-beaten-by-teacher-15-year-old-dalit-student-dies-of-injuries-in-auraiya
