8-Year-Old Dalit Boy Tortured, Scorpion Placed In His Pants; 3 Teachers Booked
In a shameful and heinous incident that occurred in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla, a class 1 minor school Dalit boy was assaulted by three teachers, including the headmaster of the school. The teachers even placed a scorpion in his pants. The teachers have been arrested on a complaint made by the father of the boy.
The Dalit student studies in a government primary school in the Khaddapani area of Rohru sub-division, Shimla district. As per the complaint, the headmaster Devendra and teachers Babu Ram and Kritika Thakur were physically assaulting the minor for almost a year.
A case has been registered under sections 127 (2) (wrongful confinement), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 3(5)(criminal acts in furtherance of a common intent) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and for cruelty towards a child under the Juvenile Justice Act.
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The teachers have also been charged under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act about forcibly removing clothes or similar acts derogatory to human dignity, and crimes against a member of the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe.
The teachers reportedly intimidated the boy, telling him that if he complained, they would have him arrested.
On October, the headmaster allegedly threatened to expel the child and said the complainant’s family would face severe consequesnces if the matter becomes public and threatened them by burning.
The boy’s father was also threatened with life if he lodge a police complaint or post about the incident on social media. He also alleged the caste-based discrimination by teachers at the school. Nepali and Harijan students were made to sit separately from Rajput students during meals.
However, this is not the first such incident by teachers in Rohru. Last week, a teacher at government primary school in Gawana area of Rohru was suspended for beating a student with a prickly bush.
Earlier, a 12-year-old Dalit boy allegedly committed suicide at Limda village in Rohru after some upper caste women locked him up inside a cowshed for entering their house.
