An official reported on Tuesday that seven people have been taken into custody by the police after a juvenile Dalit girl was allegedly instructed not to go to school by a group of local residents on the grounds that other females were not in school in a village in Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh.
Following the alleged event in Bawaliyakhedi village, a fight broke out between members of two families—that of the girl and that of the arrested accused—leaving some people hurt, according to the police.
According to a complaint cited by the in-charge of the Kotwali Police Station, Avdhesh Kumar Shesha, the event happened on Saturday afternoon while a 16-year-old girl from the Scheduled Caste community was returning home from a nearby school. He claimed that some individuals approached the girl, snatched her school bag, and told her not to go to school because other girls in the village were not doing so.
Later, he claimed, a fight broke out between the girl’s family and the accused’s relatives. According to him, the police detained seven people on Monday as a result of the complaint in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to the police officer, the girl’s brother and three other people were named in a cross-complaint filed by the opposite side alleging assault.
Shesha could not provide a precise count of people hurt during the altercation but did say they were receiving treatment in the district hospital.
In a video she released, the girl said the suspect had taken her school bag and was against her going to class. She alleged the accused assaulted her brother when he objected to their comments and also beat up other family members.
