The caste system in India has been a bane of the society ever since its inception. And while the world may be moving on a modern path, there still are horrific episodes reported of clashes between upper and lower castes. n the Khetalpur Bhansoli village of Uttar Pradesh, with a population of as much as 3,500, about 30% of them are Dalits. There have admitted to frequent fights with upper castes in the village. In one such incident, a pregnant woman was killed in this village for 'defiling' a bucket of a woman from the upper caste, reported the Indian Express.
On October 15 morning, an over-eight-months pregnant Savitri Devi, like most days, was collecting garbage from homes in Khetalpur Bhansoli village in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh. While she was at one of the homes, a rickshaw caused her to lose balance and ¡®touch¡¯ a bucket belonging to Anju, an upper caste Thakur. According to Kusuma Devi, Savitri's neighbour, Anju stormed towards her, punched her repeatedly in the stomach and banged her head on a wall. She kept accusing Savitri of defiling her bucket by touching it. Later, Anju¡¯s son Rohit also joined in and beat her with sticks.
Savitri Devi's 6-year-old daughter Preeti: Image: The Indian Express
Six days later, both Savitri, a Dalit, and her unborn son were dead. The post-mortem report stated ¡°antemortem head injury¡± to fully-developed 44 cm male foetus as the cause of her death.? Her nine-year-old daughter, Manisha, was accompanying her that day and came running to ask for help. When I and a few other women reached the spot, barely 300 metres away, she was still being thrashed by the mother and son.
Savitri earned Rs 100 a month from collecting garbage from five upper caste homes; Anju¡¯s was not one of them.?Dilip Kumar, Savitri¡¯s husband, who has two daughters 9 and 6-year-old, said that he took her to the district hospital the same day, but they refused to see her. There was no external bleeding and they said she was fine. I took her home and asked her to rest, but she kept complaining of a severe headache and stomach pain.
When he confronted Anju and her son who beat her up, they abused him. Finally, on October 18, he went to the Kotwali (rural) police station to file a complaint.?
Tapeshwar Sagar, SHO, Kotwali (rural) police station, said: ¡°When Kumar approached us on October 18 with his wife, we ordered for a medico-legal test on her. The results claimed ¡®No injury¡¯. It was only an external examination and there were no wounds, and the results claimed no injury, so we did not file a case then. Later, on October 20, when we visited the village and spoke to the eyewitnesses, we realised that Savitri was assaulted by Anju and her son and so, registered a FIR under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).¡±
representational image / womennewsnetwork.net
On October 21, Savitri¡¯s condition worsened and she fainted. Kumar called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital. When she reached the hospital, she was declared brought dead. Superintendent of Police Pramod Kumar said: ¡°Since the post-mortem says that a head injury caused her death, we have now added IPC sections 304 A (death by negligence), 316 (causing the death of the unborn child by act amounting to culpable homicide) and provisions of SC/ST Act on Anju and her son. We hope to arrest Anju and her son soon.¡±
Both Anju and her son Rohit have been on the run since October 18. Not many of the upper caste households in Khetalpur Bhansoli are willing to speak. The ground floor of Anju¡¯s three-storey house is locked. Her daughter Jyoti, who has been temporarily living with the family, is the only one at home and claims she does not know the whereabouts of her mother Anju and her brother Rohit. Jyoti also claims that she saw Savitri holding it and lost her cool. She thought Savitri was stealing it. There was a fight but no one beat her up.