6 booked for denying water to Dalit woman officer

DM takes cognisance after woman officer submits a complaint

KAUSHAMBI : An FIR was registered against six people, including two village heads, for allegedly denying drinking water to a woman dalit officer here, said police. A deputy chief veterinary officer was allegedly denied drinking water because of her dalit identity in Ambawa Poorab village in Manjhanpur block, around 167 km away from the state capital Lucknow, on July 31.

ALLAHABAD: An FIR was registered against six people, including two village heads, for allegedly denying drinking water to a Dalit woman officer in Kaushambi on Thursday.

The officer, serving as a deputy chief veterinary officer, was allegedly denied drinking water because of her Dalit identity in Ambawa Poorab village in Manjhanpur block on July 31.

On Wednesday, the woman officer Dr Seema (she goes by this name) submitted a complaint in this regard to district magistrate, Kaushambi, Manish Kumar Verma.

The DM took cognizance of the same and directed SP (Kaushambi) Pradeep Gupta for lodging an FIR against six persons.

The police lodged the FIR under SC/ST Act against head of Ambawa Poorab village Shiv Sampat, Pankaj Yadav, the husband of Bhaila Makdoompur village head, Saibasa village head Ansar Ali, district panchyat member Jhallar Tiwari, district panchayati raj officer Ravidutt Mishra and Rajesh Singh at Manjhanpur police station.

According to SP Pradeep Gupta, the matter was being investigated and stern action

would be initiated against those found guilty.

Meanwhile, Dr Seema said she had gone to the village on the directions of the DPRO to review development projects. As per her, she was not given water for twoand-a-half-hours despite her being a diabetic.

In her complaint, she claimed that they behaved very abnormally with her and when she asked for water she was denied the same by six people sitting there.

In the complaint, she has claimed that she is a diabetic and that her arms and limbs started trembling forcing her to leave the place.

As per reports, the officer alleged when she sought water from the villagers, village head Sampat and the DPRO gestured them to not give her the same.

On Thursday, village residents staged a protest against the FIR claiming that the statement given by the woman officer was false as one of the accused in the FIR, Shiv Sampat, the head of Ambawa Poorab village, was a scheduled caste himself and hence there was no question of denial of water by him to the officer.

Despite repeated attempts, Kaushambi DM Manish Kumar Verma could not be contacted for his comments on the issue.