The Hindu : New Delhi News : Dalit girl thrown into fire

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Dalit girl thrown into fire

Objection over her passing through a road

Mathura: In a shocking incident, a Dalit girl was thrown into a fire allegedly by an 18-year-old youth who objected to her passing through a road next to his house in a hamlet, about 40 kms from this temple town.

The six-year-old girl was pushed into the hot ashes of a fire by accused Sunny on Tuesday following an altercation as she passed through the road along with her mother in Tarauli Janubi area, police sources said. The girl has been admitted in a hospital here in a critical condition with 50 per cent burns.

Accused arrested

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Mathura, R.K. Chaturvedi said the accused was arrested on Tuesday night on charges of attempt to murder and under Sections 3 and 4 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Protection of Civil Rights) Act.

“We are thinking of taking serious action against the accused under the Gangsters Act...we want a message to be conveyed so that nobody does such a thing in future,” he said, but denied that the road was meant for only upper caste people.

‘Individual act’

“It is wrong...it is a general road and everybody was moving on it...there were so many women and children going through that road. The road was never obstructed by people and it was an act of an individual,” he said.

The arrested youth, however, told the police that he had not pushed the girl into the hot ashes and that it was an “accident”.

Giving details about the incident, Mr. Chaturvedi said, “Basically, it is an act of an individual. There is no previous history or any background of enmity.”

According to the girl’s father, Soudan, who lodged the police complaint, “My daughter was passing by the house of this youth...he objected to her doing so. When he tried to stop her, she got scared...then he pushed her into the fire”.

Uttar Pradesh DGP Vikram Singh described the incident as a case of “rage”.

“Probably there was some disagreement over passage (of the child along with her mother). This probably resulted in the boy throwing the girl in the fire,” he added. -- PTI

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