http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/106581/India/dalit-students-tortured-in-mayawatis-state.html
Dalit students tortured in Mayawati's state
Rajat Rai
Lucknow, July 25, 2010
In a state ruled by a Dalit chief minister, atrocities against the
community is on the rise.
At a school at Bhartana in Etawah district of Mayawati's Uttar
Pradesh, four Dalit students were allegedly brutally beaten up by the
principal and other school staff.
Late on Friday, hostellers Ankit, Dharmendra, Hari Babu, Rakesh (all
Dalits) and Ravi, the students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Samho,
approached the local media with their tales of woes. While Rakesh was
hit on his private parts, Ankit was tonsured and paraded in the
hostel.
According to the victims, Ravi, a Class X student, had misplaced his
mobile phone and Dharmendra and Hari Babu (Class XII students) who
found it, kept it with them. Ankit and Rakesh came to know of this and
began threatening Dharmendra and Hari Babu that they would inform
hostel warden G. K. Sharma, alias Mishra ji, about it.
"But Mishra ji got wind of this and took the mobile from us,"Dharmendra said.
On Friday, Rakesh told Ravi that Mishra ji had his mobile phone and
the students approached the warden to claim it. But the warden did not
return the phone and took all five students to the principal instead.
"The principal, S. K. Tiwari, and other teachers and staff of the
school thrashed us brutally," Hari Babu said.
Ankit said the principal pulled him by his hair and got his head
shaved. "He (the principal), the warden and other teachers, paraded me
in the hostel saying it will send a message to other erring students,"
he said.
Rakesh, who claimed he sustained injuries to his private parts during
the beating, said: "We were made to lie on the ground and beaten as
though we were animals."
Rakesh was taken to a private hospital in Lucknow. The medical report
issued by the hospital says Rakesh had "swelling of testes". Hari Babu
and Ankit, too, alleged the behaviour of the school staff was
different towards Dalit students. "We are often physically harassed
for simple reasons such as not switching off the lights in our rooms
or wearing sullied shirts," Hari Babu said.
The principal, however, said he administered corporal punishment to
the students as they were involved in acts of indiscipline.
He admitted, though, that it was "wrong" hitting the students.
"Rakesh was suffering from hydrocele," Tiwari said, while referring to
the student's allegations.
The district administration has taken up the matter. "I have talked to
students and have received some serious complaints.
We are inquiring into the matter and action will be taken if the
allegations are proved,"subdivisional magistrate A. K. Awasthi said.
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