Man Arrested For Purifying Water Tank After Dalit Woman Drinks Water From It

The centuries-old discrimination still thrives and is visible in bits and pieces. Sometimes it is in the form of atrocities and other times in the state of micro-aggression. Another incident of discrimination came to light in the Chamarajanagar district in Karnataka.

A few upper caste people from Heggatora village drained out drinking water from a public storage tank and later purified it with cow urine. This was done after a Dalit woman drank water from the tank, as per a report.

The Dalit woman is said to be from another village and came to Heggatora village on 18 November. She drank water from the storage tank set up in an upper-caste locality. Later, the Lingayats drained the water and cleaned the tanks with cow urine.

The incident went viral on social media and attracted criticism from the people. The tehsildar and social welfare department officials rushed to the spot and conducted an inquiry.

On Tuesday, November 22, the woman Shivamma informed the media that while she was drinking water, a man asked her about her caste and told her not to drink after he learnt she is Dalit.

A 62-year-old man was arrested under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly draining the water tank and "purifying" it with cow urine. The accused, Mahadevappa has been sent to judicial custody.

Karnataka Dalit Woman Abused For Water

A villager said that on Friday, there was a wedding in the Dalit community in the village. The woman came from HD Kote to attend the wedding. She drank water from the public tank and hastily took the bus. On drinking water, the villagers terribly abused the woman and decided to purify the tank."

On inspection, the revenue inspector and village accountant confirmed the incident, officials later submitted a report to the tehsildar. Tehsildar IE Basavaraju and social welfare department officials on Sunday spoke with villagers. The officials apprised villagers that the water storage tank is a public property and everyone is allowed to drink water from it. Later to prove the point tehsildar took over 20 Dalit youth to all public drinking water taps in the village and made them drink water.

Basavaraju said, "The social welfare department officers are trying to trace the woman to record her statement and file a complaint. Elders of the Dalit community have already registered an FIR at the Chamarajanagara rural police station. The eyewitnesses confirmed that the purification was done. Soon after we find the woman, we will make her file a police complaint and stringent action will be initiated against the guilty. "

Chamarajanagara district in-charge minister V Somanna condemned the incident and said such discrimination should not be tolerated and directed to take stringent action.

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