Jaipur: The whole country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav as India completed 75 years of its Independent existence. As the nation celebrates its stifling struggle for freedom from its oppressor, there is furor outside the house of 9-year-old Indra Meghwal in Surana village in Rajasthan’s Jalore.
Villagers have gathered to demand justice for the 9-year-old Schedule Caste boy who died after a teacher allegedly thrashed him for drinking water from the pot meant for the “upper” caste.
What Exactly Happened?
The incident took place at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, a private school in the village, on July 20, 2022. A teacher, Chail Singh, allegedly beat the boy up for touching his drinking water pot. The teacher is now detained on charges of murder as well as violations of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The beating left the child with a major facial wound and rendered him unconscious. The boy was sent to the local hospital and was later transferred to a facility in Udaipur. However, there was no improvement even after a week. He was taken to Ahmedabad by the family, where he succumbed to his wounds.
“He slapped the boy so hard that he fell down,” Kheemaram Meghwal, the child’s uncle, told ThePrint.
As the news of the boy started to spread, police suspended internet services in the area. In the meantime, the child’s relatives claimed that the police were trying to cover up. They assert that as they were returning the child’s body from an Ahmedabad hospital, the police attempted to seize Kheemaram’s phone and the child’s medical records.
Kheemaram further asserted that Chail Singh had promised to give the family Rs 2.5 lakh as hush money for the child’s medical care.
Hathras 2.0?
As the news continues to spread across the country, reports of Rajasthan police pressurising the victim’s family to cremate his body have surfaced. The family and the Bhim Army supporters, demonstrating over the death of the child, had to face lathi-charge by the police; Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras witnessed a similar series of events in 2020 where the body of a Dalit rape victim was cremated forcefully by the UP police.
‘Untouchability’ A Reality
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, a Scheduled Caste (SC) person in India experienced crime every ten minutes over the previous year, adding up to a total of 50,291 instances filed in 2020, an increase of 9.4% from the year before.
A total of 8,272 crimes against scheduled tribal (ST) villages were reported during the year, a 9.3% rise.
Rahul Singh of the National Dalit Movement for Justice said, “Our experience says that when it comes to atrocities on Dalits, efforts are made to dilute the seriousness of the violence and shield accused people. It is a serious matter that despite the presence of constitutional and legislative safeguards, crimes against them are increasing.”
After more than seven decades of Independence, the fight for basic human rights continues.
Whilst Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserts in his speech at the Red Fort that India is the “mother of democracy,” 9-year-old Indra Meghwal’s mother in Jalore had to prepare for her child’s funeral because he dared to drink water from his teacher’s pot.
