Caste bias claims young life: 12-year-old dies by suicide after humiliation and forced rituals
Shimla (The Uttam Hindu): A shocking case has emerged from Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district. In Chidgaon, Rohru subdivision a 12-year-old boy from a Scheduled Caste reportedly hurt by caste discrimination and harassment took his own life by consuming poison. It is alleged that upper-caste women, considering the child "impure" upon entering their home, beat him, locked him in a cowshed and even demanded a goat from the family for "purification."
According to a police complaint, this horrific incident occurred on September 16th. A resident of Chidgaon returned home in the evening to find his 12-year-old son unconscious in bed. The family immediately rushed him to a local hospital, where he was referred to IGMC Shimla in critical condition. The child died during treatment late on September 17th. It was only in Shimla that the family learned that their son had consumed poison.
The case took a horrific turn when the deceased child's mother returned home on September 18th and recounted her ordeal to the police. According to the mother, her son had gone to a woman's shop in the village to buy some goods on September 16th. When the shop closed, he went straight to the woman's courtyard. Angered by this, the upper-caste woman allegedly brutally beat the child claiming the house was impure and along with two other women, locked him in a cowshed.
Not only this, the woman also demanded a goat from the child's family to "purify" the house. The child managed to escape from the cowshed and return home, but the humiliation and torture were unbearable. Deeply traumatized by this incident, he consumed poison.
DSP Rohru, Pranav Chauhan, confirmed the case on Monday, stating that the child had told his mother about the entire incident before dying. Police initially registered a case under various sections of the BNS, but after the caste-based harassment angle came to light, sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also added to the case on September 26th.
The DSP stated that the main accused woman in the case has obtained anticipatory bail from the High Court to avoid arrest. The court has directed the police to file a status report on the case by October 6. He added that the role of other women involved in the case is also being thoroughly investigated and no culprit will be spared.