Dog ‘ex-communicated’ for touching dalit woman

It’s a dog’s life for mongrel Sheru in Morena, India, after the pet was kicked out of its comfortable upper-caste home when family members saw it eating a discarded roti from a dalit woman.

In India, dalit people are labelled ‘untouchable’ by those higher-up the rigid socially-constructed hierarchy and as punishment for his greedy crime, Sheru was tied to a pole and abandoned in the village’s dalit neighbourhood.

Sunita Jatav, the dalit woman embroiled in the case, explained: “There was a ‘roti’ left over from lunch. I saw the dog roaming and fed it the last bread.”

But when the dog’s owner Rampal Singh saw Sunita feeding the dog, he exploded, yelling: “Cobbler woman, how dare you feed my dog with your roti?”

Following the incident, a village meeting was called, which decided that Sheru-the-dog would now have to live with Sunita Jatav and her family because it too had become untouchable. Mr Singh officially ex-communicated the dog and Sunita was fined Rs 15,000.

Discrimination against Dalit people is one of the world’s most under-reported human rights abuses and although outlawed in India, incidences are widespread and pervasive. The case has been reported to the Scheduled Caste Atrocities police station in Morena district and the outcome is pending.

Read the full story at The Times Of India.