“To open or not to open the temples is a question for you to consider and not for me to agitate. If u think it is bad manners not to believe in the sanctity of human beings, then throw open the doors and be a gentleman, but if you wish to remain a orthodox Hindu then shut the doors and damn yourself, for I don't care to come.”Babasheb.Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.
A dog’s life couldn’t get worse. A mongrel brought up in an upper caste home in Morena was kicked out after the Rajput family members discovered that their Sheru had fed a roti of a Dalit woman and was now an “untouchable”. Next, Sheru was tied to a pole in the village’s Dalit locality. His controversial case is now pending with the district collector, the state police and the Scheduled Caste Atrocities police station in Morena district of north Madhya Pradesh.
The black cur, of no particular pedigree, was accustomed to the creature comforts in the home of its influential Rajput owners in Manikpur village in Morena. Its master, identified by the police as Rampal Singh, is a rich farmer with local political connections.
A week ago Sunita Jatav, a Dalit woman, was serving lunch to her farm labourer husband. “There was a ‘roti’ left over from lunch. I saw the dog roaming and fed it the last bread,” Sunita said. “But when Rampal Singh saw me feeding the dog and grew furious and yelled: “Cobbler woman, how dare you feed my dog with your roti?” He rebuked me publicly. I kept quiet thinking the matter would end there. But it got worse,” she said.
On Monday, Rampal ex-communicated his own pet dog. A village panchayat was called, which decided that Sheru would now have to live with Sunita and her family because it had become an untouchable. “It’s no longer Rampal’s pet and can’t be called a village dog either. It shall now on live on the Dalit side of the village,” the elders adjudged. Sunita Jatav was fined Rs 15,000.
An outraged Sunita and her brother Nahar Singh Jatav rushed to Sumawali police station. They were directed to take the matter to the SC/ST Atrocities police station in Kalyan. “When we went there, the officer asked us why we fed the dog,” recalls Nahar. “So we went to the DSP in the SC/ST Atrocities department and submitted a memorandum to him, as also to the district collector. But no one has registered our FIR so far.”
DSP SC/ST Atrocities (Morena), Baldev Singh, said “We are investigating the allegation. A police team will be sent to the village for the inquiry after which the FIR will be filed.”
Collector M K Agarwal said: “Untouchability in any form is a crime. This case has been brought before the magistrate and since the SC/ST Atrocities police station registers these cases, instructions have been issued to appropriate personnel for punitive action
Source: The Times of India dt 24.09.10
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