Caste-Hindu teacher beats Dalit student for touching water bottle

A government school teacher in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district has been accused of assaulting a Dalit student and allegedly subjecting him to caste-based abuse after the boy reportedly drank water from the teacher's bottle.

According to the student's account, the teacher, identified as Lokesh Sharma, allegedly used a casteist slur, telling the boy not to touch his bottle because he belonged to the Chamar community, before physically assaulting him inside the classroom, Maktoob Media reported.

The Chamar community is one of the state's largest Scheduled Caste (SC) groups and has long been subjected to caste-based discrimination.

The incident sparked outrage after videos emerged in which the student described the alleged assault.

Three classmates who witnessed the incident corroborated the student's account, alleging that the teacher objected to the boy touching the bottle, used a caste-based slur and beat him in front of the class.

Anti-caste activist Saurabh Kumar Bauddh condemned the alleged assault, saying he had spoken to the student's father, Raju Jatav. He alleged that the accused teacher should be held accountable and remarked that those supporting the recent "Reservation Hatao" social media campaign should confront the reality of caste discrimination.

The Ambedkarite advocacy account The Dalit Voice also condemned the incident, stating that the treatment of a child as "untouchable" inside a classroom showed that caste discrimination continues to be a lived reality rather than a thing of the past.