A 12-year-old Dalit boy from Rohru subdivision in Shimla district has died by suicide after allegedly being humiliated and locked inside a cowshed by a neighbour. The police have registered a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the boy’s uncle, Suresh Banta, the child had gone to the house of an upper-caste neighbour when a woman caught him and accused him of defiling her home. “She locked him inside a cowshed. Later, she told the boy that his parents would have to give her a goat to purify the house,” Banta said. The boy managed to escape and return home, where he consumed poison. He was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla but died a day later.
Pranav Chauhan, DSP of Rohru, said the police were relying on scientific evidence as there were no eyewitnesses. “We are investigating the case thoroughly to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
The death has left the local Dalit community outraged. Vinod Singhta, treasurer of the Koli Samaj, said the incident reflected the daily caste discrimination in the area. “The practice of casteism is rampant here. A dog can enter the house of an upper caste person but if a Scheduled Caste person enters, the house is considered defiled. This mindset is deeply unfortunate,” he said.
Political leaders have also reacted sharply. Sanjay Chauhan, state secretary of the CPM, called the incident shameful. “If the boy died due to casteism, there can’t be anything more shameful. Stern action must be taken so that such incidents do not happen again,” he said.
