Why did a 12-year-old Dalit boy die? Pressure builds on Himachal govt

An initial FIR was filed on September 20, three days after the 12-year-old died. The stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was slapped against the accused Pushpa Devi, 57, on September 26. By then, on September 25, she had obtained interim bail from the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

On Wednesday, a delegation of the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Commission met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and officiating Himachal DGP Ashok Tewari, demanding a fair investigation.

Sources said, “The initial FIR was registered on charges of abetment to suicide. Charges were added under the SC/ST Act when the victim’s mother recorded a supplementary statement saying her son was thrashed because he was a Dalit and that they had been told to arrange a goat by the accused.”

The father of the victim told The Indian Express: “My son had gone to purchase some grocery items from a shop run by Pushpa Devi adjoining her house on September 16. There was no one at the counter, so he entered the house via a balcony looking for someone who could help. Merely for this, Pushpa Devi along with two other women castigated him.”

The father, who works as a mason, said the scared 12-year-old tried to run away, but Pushpa Devi managed to catch him. “She then called my younger brother and said my son had ‘polluted’ her house, and that he should convey to us that we would have to give her a goat for sacrifice.”

According to the father, Pushpa Devi then locked up the boy in a cowshed near her house, and proceeded to beat him up along with two others, threatening that he would not be freed till his parents brought a goat.

“Somehow, my son managed to escape after breaking an iron mesh. My wife later found him hidden in an apple orchard, and brought him home. By that time, out of fear, he had already consumed a pesticide used on apple plants.”

Says the mother: “He was scared and worried how his poor parents would arrange a goat. There was no other reason for him to take his life. He was a sensitive child.”

When his condition deteriorated by the evening, the father said, they rushed the 12-year-old to the Rohru Civil Hospital, from where he was referred to the Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla. However, the boy – the youngest of six siblings – did not survive and died during treatment on September 17.\

DSP (Rohru) Pranav Chauhan said, “We have lodged an FIR under BNS Sections and relevant sections of the SC/ST Act against three women, including Pushpa Devi. We added the SC/ST atrocities charges after the victim’s mother recorded her statement that her child was kept in a cowshed and thrashed… The allegations are being probed.”

Adding that Pushpa Devi was “cooperating”, Chauhan said they had collected forensic evidence from the cowshed where the boy was allegedly beaten, and the orchard where he reportedly consumed poison. “The preliminary postmortem report has been received but it is not conclusive,” the DSP said.

While Pushpa Devi could not be reached, one of her relatives said what had happened was unexpected. Pushpa Devi’s late husband worked as a government teacher, and their son is now employed in the Education Department, having got the job on compassionate grounds. “Pushpa had held a religious function at her house some days before the incident, but people don’t believe now in such things that a house gets polluted if a Dalit enters. Moreover, Limbda village is Dalit-dominated, with 10-odd houses belonging to upper castes,” the relative says.

Most of the upper caste families are Rajput, like Pushpa Devi’s.

However, others are not surprised at the allegations. Local CPI(M) leader Manu Dogra said: “This area in Rohru subdivision is one of the worst when it comes to casteism… Although Limbda is SC-dominated, the beliefs are very deep-rooted.”

Pushpa Devi allegedly wanted to sacrifice a goat in the honour of her local deity. “In the upper areas of Himachal, particularly in Shimla, people still follow the provision of dand (punishment),” a police officer said.

A member of the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Commission, Vijay Dogra, said: “We took up the issue with the CM and DGP Tewari, and asked that if it was known that the suspect had demanded a goat for ‘purification’ of her house, why the SC/ST Act was not added in the FIR on the first day.”

Dogra said they would send the report police are preparing to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

The Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch has also taken up the case, and has called for immediate arrest of the accused under the SC/ST Act. The Manch said “the lack of will” to implement the Act, as allegedly in the 12-year-old’s case, was the reason for “increase in caste-based incidents”.

A local BSP leader, Anil Manget, said, “This case exposes the real face of big political parties like the Congress and BJP. Why is there no reaction from their leaders over the death of the 12-year-old?”

Pushpa Devi’s counsel Ravinder Singh Thakur said they have contested the claim of the boy’s family that she had demanded a goat from them. While she secured interim bail as the SC/ST charges had not been added at the time, Thakur admits the legal fight is set to get tougher. “Police have to file a detailed status report in the High Court on October 6, the next date of hearing.”

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