Magars ban dalits from using well
MITHILESH YADAV
SIRAHA (DHARAMPUR), July 6: The Magar community in Chandrodayapur-4,
Dharampur of Siraha has banned dalit families from using a public
well.
The dalits have lodged a formal complaint of untouchability against
the Magars with support from the Crime Vigilance Center. Siraha
district police chief Ramesh Bhattarai has assured that action has
been initiated in the case.
Representative of the center, Radheshyam Ram, said the Magars have
stopped the Mijars from filling water for the last one month. The ban
came following a dispute between the communities after two Mijar kids
were thrashed for trying to drink water from the well when Magars were
filling water.
Local Tej Kumari Ruwa had thrashed five-year-olds Ashok and Subhash
when they went to the well to drink water on their way home from
school on June 9, according to Rishi Maya Mijar, a local. "When we
went to drink water from the well, she thrashed us saying untouchables
should not touch the well," Ashok recalls.
"Our kids are still terrified to go near the well since the incident,"
Rishi Maya rues and adds, "We will have to leave the village if we are
prevented from filling water from the only well in the village."
The four Mijar households in the village are having torrid time after
the ban as they require more water to drink during the summer heat.
"We don´t get water to drink even in such hot weather. The police
administration also is not sensitive to our plight and has done
nothing despite our complaints," Kanchan, the mother of thrashed Mijar
kid Ashok, says.
The well dug by Siraha District Development Committee around 22 years
ago is the only means of drinking water for 17 households, including
11 of Magars and two of Halwais, in the Ruwale Tole.
The Magars, however, claim they have not banned Mijars from filling
water. "We have let them use the well at other times. They cannot fill
water with us as they are from a lower caste," argues Tej Kumari, who
thrashed the Mijar kids.
Untouchability has been banned by the law since 1963.
Published on 2010-07-06 19:42:51
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