Dalit Student Tortured by School Principal in Rajasthan, Community Outraged

Rajasthan— A class 10th student of the government senior secondary school in Dhariyawad town of Pratapgarh district was tortured and beaten up by the principal reportedly for not taking tution from him. The boy was beaten so badly that he sustained injuries on his head and even his teeth was broken. Police has registered a case against the accused principal after receiving a written complaint from the boy's father. Dalit organisations, community men gave a memorandum to the SDM demanding immediate arrest of the principal. Meanwhile, the school principal Virendra Singh Shaktawat termed all the allegations to be baseless and said that the boy had gone to the girls toilet which was reported to him by some of the students. Hence he was detained in the office.

Detained & tortured for an hour

The incident took place on February 2nd. Khushal Meghwal, the tenth-class student was answering the english paper in the pre-board examination being held in the school. Khushal said he had gone to the toilet, when the Principal happened to see him, he caught his collar and took him to his room forcefully.

The boy told the police that Shaktawat thrashed him badly which caused injury on his head and face. He was detained for an hour, forced to sit on the floor while Shaktawat called his father to school. The boy also said that the Principal made him clean the blood stains on the floor from his own handkerchief. Khushal's father Babulal Meghwal reported the matter at the local police station.

FIR lodged, investigation underway

"We received the complaint from the boy's father and have lodged an FIR in the related provisions of the IPC, the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act. The medical examination of the boy has been conducted, we have also sought CCTV footage from the school. The investigation is underway", SHO Pradeep Kumar of Dhariyawad Police Station said.

Meanwhile, community men and several Dalit organisations including the Bhim Army staged a protest outside the SDM office condemning the delay in arrest of the accused principal. Advocate Harish Meghwal told the media that the boy hails from a poor family and his father cannot afford to send his son for tution. However the principal have been putting undue pressure on the boy further leading to harassment and hurling casteist remarks. He also said that if the principal is not suspended and arrested within 5 days, the community would stage a massive protest.