Uttarakhand students transferred after they refuse to eat meals cooked by Dalit

RUDRAPUR: Thirty upper-caste students in an Uttarakhand school allegedly refused to eat midday meals cooked by a Dalit woman, the school’s principal said on Friday, months after an identical incident at the same institution sparked widespread condemnation and a government probe.

The principal of the government inter college (GIC), Prem

Singh, said he was forced to issue transfer certificates (TC) to seven students to warn them to stop the boycott. The incident was reported from Sukhidhang in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district. “Some students have refused to eat midday meals cooked by the Dalit bhojan mata (midday mealcook). They have been bringing meals from their house. I wanted to stop such practice and make them eat together with Dalit students, therefore, I took such an action,”

Prem Singh said.

This is the second castebased boycott in six months faced by the cook, 32-year-old Sunita Devi. In December, 40 students refused to eat meals made by her. She was sacked the next day, triggering widespread outcry. The government later reinstated her after chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took note of the incident and the local administration stepped in to end the boycott.

But the boycott began again on March 9, and by nine to 10 students in classes 6, 7 and 8, said the principal as class 8 students passed to class 9 and some new students joined class 6. Devi alleged the villagers asked the children not to eat meals cooked by her.

“This is against my self-respect. They (students) leave no chance to insult me. I will fight for my self-respect in the future also. I will not withdraw the case lodged by me last year in a similar incident,” she said.→p10