Dalits allege social boycott over Pocso plaint against upper caste man in Karnataka's Yadgir village

Yadgir: The residents of a village in Hunasagi taluk in Yadgir district have been accused of boycotting members of the Dalit community after a 15-year-old girl’s family filed a Pocso complaint against an upper caste man.

When the parents - daily wage labourers working in another town - learnt that their daughter was pregnant, they took her to a hospital, where tests revealed that she was pregnant. She subsequently informed her parents that the father of the unborn infant was an upper caste man in the village.

The man reportedly refused to marry the girl citing her lowly caste and asked her to have the child aborted. The man further threatened to kill them should any of them inform others about the incident. The girl’s mother subsequently decided to file a complaint at the Narayanpur police station.

Members of Dalit communities in the village said that they were being denied groceries, and other basic provisions in the wake of a diktat issued by the elders of the village, after the girl’s family filed the police complaint.

Surpur DSP Javed Inamdar, on learning of the boycott visited the village on Thursday night, and took stock of the situation. On Friday, senior police officer G Sangeetha presided over a meeting aimed at brokering peace between the villagers.

However, elders in the village refuted charges of issuing an order to boycott the Dalit community.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered at the Narayanpur police station in this regard.