Rajasthan: Nine-Yr-Old Dalit Boy Passes Away After Alleged Assault by Schoolteacher
Dear friends,
What next, after the Bhim Rudan marchers were unable to hand over the giant brass coin to the leaders of the Indian Parliament to remind them of the unfinished task of ending untouchability?
Dalit activists are used to such disappointments; nonetheless, the yatra was meant to raise awareness of untouchability among ordinary people and it succeeded in that goal beyond expectations: Almost all mainstream news media in India reported on the halted march and a 18-minute TV segment reported the story in great detail (in Hindi).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSw4OrIHU2Q
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In the meantime, incidents of untouchability continue every day. Here's a sad story of a Dalit boy beaten to death by a teacher for the offense of drinking water from a pot reserved for 'upper castes.'
"The accused, Chail Singh, reportedly saw Indra drinking water from an earthen pot "reserved for upper-caste teachers", and proceeded to beat him up."
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By signing this solidarity statement, you have indicated your desire to support or participate in future untouchability awareness campaigns and/or to learn more about it.
So, with your permission, we will keep this petition alive, so we can periodically inform you about issues or events related to untouchability and casteism and about commendable efforts to annihilate caste.
In the next update, I will provide some statistical information on caste-based violence to provide a context for the need to annihilate caste from people's minds.
Thanks
Raju, Hindus for Human Rights USA (www.hindusforhumanrights.org