Villagers in MP pour kerosene in Dalits’ well to take ‘revenge’

ACCORDING TO VILLAGE TRADITION, DALITS ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO USE ‘DHOL’ TO WELCOME THE GROOM BUT MEGHWAL HIRED A BAND, IRKING THE UPPER CASTES

BHOPAL/AGAR MALWA: A Dalit villager’s decision to hire a band party to welcome the bridegroom at his daughter’s wedding in a village in Madhya Pradesh drew a cruel retribution from upper caste villagers, who allegedly poured kerosene into a well used by the lower castes.

The incident in Mana village in Agar Malwa district, about 200km from the state capital, last week once again underlined caste fault lines in the country.

As the Dalits could not drink the contaminated water, they dug a hole on the banks of the Kalisindh river for an alternate source of water. Simultaneously, they also used a pump to suck out the contaminated water in the well.

On Saturday, district collector DV Singh and superintendent of police RS Meena went to the village, drank water from the well used by Dalits in order to reassure them and also talked to the members of the upper caste.

The collector also announced that two borewells would be dug in the area where the Dalits live. “The contaminated water has been pumped out and the water is potable,” he said.

On April 23, Chander Meghwal, a 45-year-old Dalit had welcomed the groom for his daughter Mamta’s wedding with a band party, despite a warning by the dominant upper castes that he would face social boycott if he hired a band party. According to village tradition, the Dalits are only allowed to use ‘dhol’ to welcome the groom.

Meghwal had informed the administration about the threat and the marriage took place under police protection. But the defiance did not go down well with the upper castes and they took their ‘revenge’.