Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from our local partner, the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) and Savitri Bai Phule Women Forum (SWF), regarding the case of caste based discrimination practiced at the Government Primary School at Shivrampur in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh state. It is reported that even the state government officers who are responsible for monitoring the school and its staff is also prejudiced against the lower caste community and refuses to take any corrective measures.
CASE DETAILS:
Suresh Mushar is the son of Mr. Sajjan Musahar and a resident of Ayer Musahar ghetto, under the jurisdiction of Cholapur police station in Haranhuwa block of Varanasi district. Suresh is 8 years old and is studying in class two at the Shivrampur Government Primary School. On 2 August 2007 during the lunch-break Suresh went home and came back to the school. Back in the classroom, he found that his school bag was missing.
Suresh complained to his teacher Ms. Sangeeta Agarwal regarding his missing bag. The bag could not be traced out on that day. On August 4, 2007 Sangeeta returned the bag to Suresh. While returning the bag, the teacher asked why Suresh has to be concerned about the missing bag and books since the members of his community will invariably end up raring cattle and working for the upper caste. Saying this, without any further provocation the teacher started caning Suresh.
By chance Suresh’s mother happened to come by the school. Seeing her child being beaten up by the teacher, Suresh’s mother intervened and challenged the teacher regarding her approach to the children from the lower caste community. Suresh’s mother took Suresh away from school after this.
Suresh belongs to the Musahar community in Uttar Pradesh. Musahar community is a scheduled caste in the state, a community considered to be untouchable by the caste Hindus in India. The scheduled caste and tribe in India is collectively referred to as ‘Dalits’ in India.
Soon after the beating incident, Mr. Vijay Bharati, an associate of the PVCHR came to know about Suresh’s case and contacted his family. Finding that the incident was true, Bharati organised a meeting of the parents from the Musahar community whose children are attending the government school along with Suresh.
In the meeting the parents and the children complained that most of the Musahar children were treated similarly by Sangeeta as well as the other staff in the school. The children also complained that the teacher discriminated them due to their lower caste and had instructed them not to touch her thereby ‘polluting’ her. In addition to the children from the Musahar community, there are also children from the Chamar community attending the same school. Chamar is also a lower caste and considered equally untouchable and discriminated by the teachers at the school.
Bharati asked Suresh’s father to file a complaint regarding the incident to the District Magistrate. Suresh’s father Mr. Sajjan Musahar filed a written complaint to the District Magistrate on August 9, 2007. On receipt of the complaint, on August 10, 2007, at about 10am a government officer – the Basic Siksha Adhikari [Basic Education Officer] – from the state education department visited the school.
Knowing that the officer has come to the school, Mr. Brijesh Pandey, a PVCHR staff also went to the school. The Musahar parents informed the officer the injustices practiced against their children in the school. They also complained that even though the school is run by the government where education is supposed to be free, their children were asked to pay 10 rupees each by the teachers as enrolment fee.
Pandey informed the officer that Ms. Sangeeta Agarwal, a teacher in the school, used to treat the Dalit children with caste prejudice and considered them as untouchables. Hearing this, the officer shouted at Pandey asking him why he being an upper caste is working for the Dalit community. Meanwhile the headmistress of the school complained to the officer that Pandey is rallying the Musahars and other Dalits against the upper caste in the locality. Hearing this, the officer asked Pandey to leave the place or else he would call the police.
The Shivrampur Musahar colony is declared as one of the Ambedkar villages in the state. This is recognition for the village by the state government acknowledging the presence of the lower caste communities in the village and their special needs. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is the father of the Indian constitution and also a Dalit. The Shivrampur School also has an Ambedkar statue within the school compound. However, the Musahar communities say that the statue itself is a shame to Dr. Ambedkar and the cause he fought for, given the nature of caste based prejudices practiced against the students in the school and the lower caste community in the village in particular.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the relevant authorities, to the District Magistrate Varanasi in particular, and others listed below, urging them to take immediate action in this case. The AHRC is also writing a separate letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance asking for interference into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
INDIA: Please take immediate action to prevent discrimination of dalit children in Shivrampur Government Primary School in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Names of the victims: Children from the Dalit community of the Ayer Musahar ghetto in Shivrampur, Varanasi district
Alleged perpetrators: The teaching staff at the Shivrampur Government Primary School
I am writing to express my concern about the conduct of the teaching staff at the Shivrampur Government Primary School against the Dalit children, particularly the children from the Musahar community attending the school. In a recent incident where a student of class two, Suresh Musahar, found his school bag missing complained to his teacher Ms. Sangeeta Agarwal. Ms. Agarwal not only shouted at Suresh, but also caned him for complaining. I am informed that Ms. Agarwal practices untouchability against the Dalit children.
When a complaint was filed by Suresh’s father Mr. Sajjan Musahar, the Basic Shiksha Adhikari, visited the school on August 10, 2007. I am informed that the officer instead of appreciating the complaints by the parents, insulted them and also shouted at the local human rights activist Mr.Brijesh Pandey for working with the Dalit community and threatened that he would be handed over to the police for organising the Dalits in the village.
I am also informed that even though the Shivrampur School is run by the government, the teachers are collecting enrolment fee from the students.
I am shocked to know that such open practice of caste based discrimination is still continuing in Uttar Pradesh. I am concerned about the attitude of the teachers at the school to their students and worried how they could groom the children into better citizens of the country. I hope that this letter will invite your attention to take appropriate actions against the school staff and also against the Basic Shiksha Adhikari who also is prejudiced against the Dalit children.
I trust that you will take action in this case.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO:
1. Ms. Veena Kumari
District Magistrate
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: + 91 542 2501450
2. National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Government of India
5th Floor, Loknayak Bhawan
Khan Market
New Delhi 110003
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 2462 5378
3. Ms. Mayawati
Chief Minister
Chief Minister’s Secretariat
Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: + 91 522 2230002/2239234
Email: csup@up.nic.in
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
