Dalit woman pradhan allege caste-based violence in UP

A newly elected Dalit woman village pradhan from Nathupura village in Uttar Pradesh has alleged that some local influential persons abused and forcefully evicted her from her chair and made her sit on the floor. Savita Devi Ahirwar, 25, was on her maiden meeting with officials in the Panchayat Bhawan in the presence of assistant development officer (ADO) Panchayat and block development officer (BDO) when a few, including Ramu Rajpoot, arrived and started hurling casteist abuses.

"I was having my first meeting with the officials when Ramu, Rupendra, Arjun, Ravindra and six unknown persons entered the room. Ramu soon started bullying me and asked me to follow his instructions instead of raising the problems of the villagers. When I refused to oblige, Ramu grabbed me by my hand and started using a casteist slur against me. He then forced me to leave the chair and sit on the floor," Savita said.

"The accused Ramu Rajpoot and his associates were booked for rioting, assault using criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty and under the SC/ST Act, Ramu has been arrested, and further investigations are underway," said RK Gautam, Additional SP Mahoba.