An ‘upper’ caste couple allegedly questioned a Dalit anganwadi worker for visiting their house at Mathasagara village in Sakleshpur taluk recently as part of the awareness programme about the spread of dengue cases in the taluk.
B.N. Teja, 24, who has been working as an assistant at the anganwadi centre in Mathasagar for the last two years filed a complaint with Sakleshpur Town Police on Thursday against Kumaraswamy and his wife Shruthi, residents of the village.
In her complaint Teja, who belonged to the Adi Karnataka community, stated that she visited the houses in the village along with anganwadi worker Gowramma to spread awareness on how to avoid the spread of dengue on July 4. Kumaraswamy invited them inside their house and offered coffee.
However, on July 9, when Gowramma visited his house again along with ASHA workers for the same purpose, Kumaraswamy questioned why she brought Teja, belonging to the lower caste, along with her inside his place. Also, he wanted to know if she (Gowramma) ate food cooked by Teja at the anganwadi centre.
Teja learnt about this conversation a day later. Disturbed by what she heard, she went to Kumaraswamy’s place on July 10 and questioned if he had said so. According to the complainant, Kumaraswamy, and his wife, Shruthi, reiterated that she (Teja) should not have entered their house and stayed outside. They also maintained that her entry caused harm to their place. At one point, during the course of arguments, the couple tried to assault her physically.
Based on her complaint, the Sakleshpur Town Police registered the case under the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2015, and Section 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). READ COMMENTSPRINT
This story was originally published in thehindu.com.
