In a shocking turn of events in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district, a young student from the Dalit community has allegedly been subjected to severe physical abuse and casteist discrimination by school staff. The father of the 8-year-old boy, a first-grader at a government primary school in Rohru, has filed a complaint detailing months of alleged mistreatment by the headmaster and two teachers. The complaint states that the child was not only beaten frequently, leading to injuries like bleeding ears and a damaged eardrum, but was also subjected to a particularly cruel act where a scorpion was allegedly placed in his pants while he was in the school toilet.
Beyond the physical assault, the father has also leveled accusations of systemic caste bias within the school. He claims that students from Dalit and Nepali backgrounds were made to sit separately from Rajput students during meals, highlighting a disturbing pattern of discrimination.
The situation reportedly escalated on October 30th when the headmaster allegedly threatened to expel the child, uttering the chilling words, “We will burn you.” The family also claims they were threatened with their lives if they filed a police complaint or shared the incident on social media.
Police have registered a case against the three teachers under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including confinement, assault, and criminal intimidation, as well as under the Juvenile Justice Act for cruelty towards a child. Crucially, charges under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked, acknowledging the alleged acts of stripping and other forms of degradation that violate human dignity.
This incident is not an isolated one in the Rohru region, with reports of other instances of teachers assaulting students and caste-based discrimination coming to light. Previously, a teacher was suspended for beating a student, and a 12-year-old Dalit boy allegedly died by suicide after being locked in a cowshed.