A nine-year-old Dalit school boy in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district is alleged to have died due to discrimination on the basis of caste.
The boy was allegedly denied access to the hand pump in his school after which, he went to a well to get water to drink.
Unfortunately, he lost his balance and fell in, resulting in his death, reported Times Of India.
The incident took place on Tuesday when Veeran Ahirwar, student of class 3 finished his midday meal and went to the hand pump in the school campus to drink water, but he was allegedly turned away by his teachers.
His brother, Sevak, a class 5 student who studies in the same school alleged that it was because of their caste that his brother was discriminated.
After Veeran’s death, five teachers of the primary school, including the principal have been suspended for discrimination on the basis of caste.
However Sriniwas Sharma, the collector at Damoh, ruled out caste-discrimination as the reason for the incident and has blamed negligence of school staff. Speaking to HT, he said that overcrowding at the school hand pump had forced the children to move to the well near the school.