Dalit boy beaten for ‘touching water bucket’ in Rajasthan, ‘terrified to go back to school’
“We have interrogated the accused. If he is found guilty, procedure will be followed. The boy is safe to go back to school and there will be no trouble for him anymore. We have assured him of that,” an inspector said.
According to the complaint, a man from an upper caste, who was filling up water in a bucket at the time, assaulted the boy when he touched the bucket. An eight-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up for touching a water bucket kept near a handpump at a village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, police said.
The incident took place at around 9.30 am on Saturday, when the boy, a class 4 student at the government school in the village, went to drink water at the handpump located within the school premises. According to the complaint, a man from an upper caste, who was filling up water in a bucket at the time, assaulted the boy when he touched the bucket.
The boy’s father, who filed a police complaint in the matter, told The Indian Express, “There is a handpump inside the school boundary from where other people of the village also fill up their water. My son just touched the bucket to move it aside and drink water from the hand pump. The man was from an upper caste community, and he brutally beat up my son. Hearing his shrieks, my relative, who was passing by the school, reached the spot and saw my son weeping. I was informed about the incident and we went to the culprit’s home.”
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