Police don't treat Kamlesh's case as caste violence

HATE CRIME: Six-year-old Dalit girl Kamlesh was flung on burning embers by the 18-year-old son of her village's thakur.

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Tarauli, Mathura: Writhing in pain, a six-year-old girl paid a heavy price for walking on a road meant for the upper castes.

Kamlesh, who hails from Tarauli village near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh was allegedly flung into a burning pit by the village thakur's son.

“This is not the first time that this has happened. The problem is no one comes forward to speak. No one came forward to help,” her anguished father said.

Incidentally, Kamlesh is from the same Jatav community as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.

The police have arrested one person in connection with the case, but they are not categorising the incident as caste violence, something that villagers in Tarauli are living with.

Other villagers have said that though the police appear, they take money and hurl abuses at Dalits, taunting them.

“They say we have the arrogance of Mayawati,” said a villager while another added, “This is how we have spent our lives here.”

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Uttar Pradesh tops the list when it comes to caste atrocities.

Less than a month back a Dalit girl was burnt alive in her home in Itawah, allegedly by Thakur boys who tried to rape her, a telling reminder of the sorry state of affairs in the state.

The Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act of 1989 had a dismal redressal rate of five per cent.

One can only hope that Kamlesh is not forgotten as just another statistic.