On Friday (September 8), a government school teacher in Rajasthan allegedly abused and assaulted a Dalit class 7 student for drinking water from a water cooler meant for school teachers and staff. Following the incident, enraged family members of the Dalit student and villagers barged into the school on Saturday (September 9) morning and beat up the accused teacher in front of the police.
The incident reportedly took place in the Government Higher Primary School located at Bhimnagar in the Bayana police station area in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Ran Singh, the victim’s brother, has filed a complaint against the teacher at the Bayana police station, accusing him of assault.
Brother singled out because of his caste, principal offered Rs 2 lakh to withdraw the complaint: Brother of Dalit student tells police
In his complaint, the victim’s brother alleged that the tutor did not object to the other students drinking from the same cooler and singled out his brother because he belonged to a lower caste.
He further alleged that the school’s principal, Rajkumar Sharma, and another instructor, Naval Kishore, attempted to bribe him into withdrawing his complaint against him. According to the victim, the two teachers arrived at his house at 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, September 9, and offered him Rs 2 lakh if he dropped the charge against Gangaram Gujar. They also warned him of severe repercussions if he did not comply with their demands.
The incident
According to the complaint filed by the victim’s brother Ran Singh, on Friday during recess hours, he went to the water cooler to have water after finishing his tiffin, but the water cooler was empty. When he was returning, he saw two students drinking water from the pitcher kept exclusively for the school teachers and staff members. Since he was very thirsty, he too drank water from that pitcher.
When Gangaram Gurjar saw this, he became furious and started hurling casteist abuses at the student and beating him up.
The student went back home and shared his ordeal with his brother and relatives. Infuriated by the discrimination and inhumane treatment meted out by the teacher, the family members along with other villagers barged into the school at around 10 am on Saturday and created a ruckus at the campus, demanding strict action against the accused teacher.
Seeing the crowd gather at the premises, the school authorities informed the police. The police arrived within no time but before it could intervene, the victim’s family members and villagers caught hold of the accused teacher and thrashed him up in front of the police.
The cops eventually managed to rescue the teacher from the clutches of the angry mob and took him to the police station.
In response, the enraged villagers tried to block the Bayana State Highway. The cops, however, dispersed the crowd. Following this, members of the Bhim Army went to the police station to voice their outrage over the occurrence. The police filed an FIR against the accused and began investigating the case.
Only I was beaten out of the three students who took water: Dalit student tells police
The victim stated, “I arrived at school at 7 a.m. yesterday (Friday). I sat in class after praying. The water van arrived shortly. Some students spilt water while transporting water for the teachers from the van. The school water cooler was completely dry. As a result, two pupils filled water bottles from the cooler reserved for teachers. When I saw them doing that, I also filled my bottle from the staff water cooler. Following this, Sir (Gangaram Gurjar) directed all three of us who drank water from the staff cooler to stand up. The next minute, he instructed the other children to sit and directed a classmate to hit me with a stick. After that, sir also started abusing me and hitting me.
“He only scolded”: Principal of the state-run school in Bharatpur, Rajasthan defends the accused teacher
The school’s principal, Rajkumar Sharma, defended the accused teacher, claiming that the student had deliberately spilt water. As a result, the teacher merely scolded him. The villagers are causing a commotion for no apparent cause, he said, adding that the kins of the student and other villagers came to the school and assaulted the teacher.
He further stated that his school has up to 200 students from kindergarten to the eighth grade.
Meanwhile, the Chief block educational officer (CBEO) Ramlakhan Khatana said that a committee has been formed to investigate the matter. Whatever facts surface in the committee report, action will be taken in accordance with them, he said, adding that the higher officials have been informed about the incident.
Dalit kid in Rajasthan succumbs to injuries after being beaten by teacher for touching drinking water pot
Last year, a nine-year-old Dalit child Indra Meghwal succumbed to his injuries 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 a complaint letter handed to the Saila police station by the victim’s father, Devaram Meghwal, Singh beat up Indra on July 20 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. The kid was taken to the district hospital, from where he was referred to a hospital in Udaipur.
According to the father, Indra was hospitalised in the hospital in Udaipur for almost a week but his health did not improve. He was subsequently transferred to Ahmedabad, where he died.
