A Dalit boy, aged 12, committed suicide after he was locked in a cowshed and humiliated by his neighbour belonging from Upper Caste in Shimla district’s Rohru subdivision.
The boy’s ordeal began after he went inside the accused woman’s house and was caught for allegedly “defiling her house”. The woman kept him hostage and humiliated him.
The victim, however, managed to escape and consumed poison. Upon learning, he was rushed to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital where he died the next day.
DSP of Rohru, Pranav Chauhan informed that the case doesn’t involve any eye witnesses and investigation has been started.
The victim’s uncle, Suresh Banta alleged that the boy told about what happened to his mother after he consumed the poison. He said, “The boy was in a lot of stress. The woman told the boy that his parents needed to give her a goat so that she could consecrate her defiled house. All this time, he was locked in there before he managed to escape.”
Dalit groups and activities have strongly condemned the incident and termed it “extremely unfortunate”.
State Secretary of the CPM, Sanjay Chauhan also expressed his shock and stated, “What’s more shameful than a 12-year-old boy dying due to casteist discrimination? This incident demands strict action so that this doesn’t repeat in the future.”
On social media, users pointed out that animals including dogs are allowed in houses of upper caste families but when a Scheduled Castes’ individual enters their house, the place becomes “impure” and voiced their concerns about increased attacks on Dalits.
This story was originally published in muslimmirror.com.