Police booked a female teacher of a private school in Haryana’s Hisar town for allegedly blackening the face of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, and some of her classmates, and parading them on the premises for scoring low marks in an English language examination.
The alleged incident took place last Friday. The girl’s father, who is a local labourer, said the teacher used a black sketch pen on the face of the Class 4 students and taken them around the class, asking other students to shout “shame” at them.
“My daughter refused to go to school on Saturday. When I asked her the reason, she kept crying. Later, my younger daughter narrated the entire episode to me,” added the father.
The family lodged an FIR against the teacher and the school on Sunday evening. The school authorities, the teacher and the principal were all unavailable for comment.
The police said it had registered a case against the teacher. “After preliminary investigation, we have registered a case under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and section 3 of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the school teacher. When we visited the school on Monday, we found the gates closed,” said Sabzi Mandi station house officer (SHO) Jagjeet Singh.
The incident sparked local protests. “As the entire school campus is under CCTV camera surveillance, we have asked the police to check the footage to gather proof and take strict action,” the father said.
{{/usCountry}}The incident sparked local protests. “As the entire school campus is under CCTV camera surveillance, we have asked the police to check the footage to gather proof and take strict action,” the father said.
{{/usCountry}}Activists demanded exemplary action from the authorities and called for more awareness in school curricula. “Unfortunately, many schools are still manned by people who are brought up with a caste mindset who see weaker sections as lesser human beings,” said Ashok Bharti, president of the All India Ambedkar Mahasabha.