Denied water from a school hand pump, a Dalit boy, a student of Khamiriya Kala primary school, tehsil Tendukheda, Damoh district, Madhya Pradesh, drowned when he tried to get water from a well.
On Tuesday, Veeran Ahirwar, son of Bedi Lal Ahirwar of Khamiriya Kala village, finished the midday meal served at the school, and went to the hand pump in the school premises to quench his thirst. But he was turned away by schoolteachers.
Though he was distressed, Class III student Veeran found a bottle and went to a nearby well, which was nearly full of water. Standing on the ledge, Veeran tied the bottle to a rope to draw water, but lost his balance and fell into the water, and died.
The incident highlights how schoolteachers still seem to follow the caste-based discrimination long abolished in India, forcing the students of lower castes to use a well to quench their thirst.
Sewak, Veeran's brother and a Class V student at the same school, didn't say much on the incident, but did mumble that some of the upper caste teachers have always given a warning look if the Dalit boys went to fetch water from the hand pump.
"We have to listen to casteist remarks, and are even threatened if we get close to the members of upper caste. I have lost my son, only because my son was not allowed to draw water from the hand pump. Should we remain thirsty because we are untouchables?" Veeran's father Bedi Lal asked Manish Bagri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Janpad Panchayat, Damoh district.
"Please do something, so that no more innocent lives are lost in the future," he pleaded before the official, who visited the family to offer consolations.
Bagri has ordered an inquiry, and suspended five teachers of the primary school, including the principal.
However, the district collector of Damoh, Shriniwas Sharma, has put the blame on water scarcity in Bundelkhand region as the reason for the incident.
Image source - Catch News/Google
Source - Catch News
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