While protests continue over the death of a nine-year-old Dalit boy Indra Meghwal, in Rajasthan’s Jalore district, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot seemed least perturbed by the heinous crime that occurred in his state. Reacting to the news that the Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up by a teacher for drinking water from a pot, Ashok Gehlot tried to play down the crime by asserting that such incidents occur in all states.
“These kinds of incidents happen in every state. If you watch TV or read the newspapers, you know that these incidents happen everywhere,” said the CM on Monday.
Accusing the BJP, which is in Opposition in the state, of politicising the incident, Gehlot further added, “We strongly condemn this. Be it in our state or in any other state. Whether it is the incident of Udaipur or Jalore, we have taken decisions that are convincing to the public. The BJP should make it an issue, being in opposition. However, our government has taken action and arrested the teacher. What more could be done? The whole state and country is watching,” Gehlot added.
Meanwhile, protests broke out in Rajasthan’s Jalore district on Sunday, a day after Indra Meghwal died allegedly after he was beaten up by a teacher for touching a drinking water pot in a private school, police said.
Dalit kid succumbs to injuries after being beaten by the teacher for touching drinking water pot
OpIndia reported on August 14 how the nine-year-old Dalit child succumbed to his injuries on Saturday (August 13) after reportedly being beaten up by a teacher in a private school in the Jalore district of Rajasthan for touching a drinking water pot. According to police, Chail Singh (40), the teacher who assaulted the child, has been detained and charged with murder and violating the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to authorities, the nine-year-old kid Indra Meghwal was apparently beaten up by the teacher on July 20 and died on Saturday in a hospital in Ahmedabad due to his injuries. Harsh Vardhan Agarwalla, the SP of Jalore, said that the youngster had been severely assaulted.
According to a complaint letter handed to the Saila police station on Saturday by the victim’s father, Devaram Meghwal, Singh beat up Indra while taunting him with casteist insults for drinking water from an earthen pot intended for upper caste people. Indra’s father also stated that he suffered damage to his right ear and eye as a result of Singh’s thrashing and eventually became unconscious.
Meanwhile, according to some locals, the claim that the child was killed for drinking water from the earthen pot meant for upper castes is false. According to these people, there is only one water tank in the school, and students and teachers used to drink water from the same tank. They denied the claims that there are separate water tanks for upper caste and lower caste students.
Rising crimes in Rajasthan under CM Ashok Gehlot
It’s remarkable how the Congress, which has a history of using fatalities for political gain, as in the Lakhimpur Kheri or Hathras incidents, the two unfortunate cases in UP, has today conveniently downplayed the murder of a 9-year-old Dalit child since it occurred in their own backyard. The fact, however, is that Rajasthan, the Congress-ruled state, has been steadily rising up the crime charts. The state has recorded the highest number of rape and attempts to rape cases, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2020.
In fact, last year it was reported how, for the second year in a row, the Congress-ruled state of Rajasthan recorded the highest number of rape and attempt to rape cases.
The figures for crime against women peaked at 34,535 in 2020. The report further revealed that as many as 409 cases of rape were reported just in the capital city of Jaipur in 2020.
From cold-blooded murder to gangrape, the law and order situation in Congress leader Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan is becoming worrisome.
In official statistics released by the State police, a 28% increase in atrocities against Dalit women, 20% in burglary and 28% in cases of theft between January and July were reported this year.
