On November 29, Arun (name changed) came home from school with injuries on his arms and legs. He was brutally beaten, he had told his family, by Rajeshwari, the headmistress of Bangalore Tamil Sanga Kamarajar High School, allegedly over a torn book. The upset family had approached the school demanding answers, but they were stonewalled. This is allegedly a pattern at the school, where Dalit students are assaulted and threatened to do menial labour including cleaning bathrooms.
Several students who TNM spoke to said that the headmistress and the staffers at the school particularly target Dalit children, and that other children at the school are not given such work. If the students refused, the headmistress would either beat them, threaten them that they wouldn't be promoted, tell them that she would withhold their marks cards or threaten them that they would be given a transfer certificate.
Dalit students at the school told TNM that they were ill-treated on several occasions. One of the students alleged that the school peon had called them beef eaters. “When the school reopened, one student spilled a drop of sanitiser on the ground. The peon came and spat on his face and asked what they eat for food. He further said, ‘You are beef eaters, stay away’,” they said. In another incident, one of the students was made to distribute rations to other kids, and while filling the bags, the peon shouted at the student in foul language for spilling a few grains of rice, the students alleged.
As more stories of discrimination and harassment emerged from the school, a group of parents staged a protest on December 9 outside the school premises. The angry parents wore blue shawls and shouted slogans, including “Dalit children are not slaves.” Parents alleged their kids had to clean the used mid day meal vessels, the school premises, and bathrooms. In Arun’s case, the boy’s hand had to be put in a cast due to the injury. The parents were joined by the Ambedkar Dalit Sangarsha Samithi; the protestors demanded the immediate suspension of the headmistress, and for an SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities case to be filed against her.
“Dalits come here to get education, but instead the school administration is making the children do other things such as washing vessels and cleaning the premises. If the students refuse, they are getting beaten. We are protesting because of this. The headmistress of the school is responsible for this — she is beating the students,” said G Madhiarasan, the Bengaluru city President of Ambedkar Dalit Sangarsh Samithi.
All the Dalit students TNM spoke to came from a very poor background. Several of them had come to Bengaluru from various parts of Tamil Nadu for education and resided in their relatives’ houses. Most of the students' parents, even those from Bengaluru, were working as labourers.
When TNM reached out to the principal of Bangalore Tamil Sanga Kamarajar High School, she declined to provide a response.
An FIR has been registered in the KG Halli police station against the headmistress Rajeshwari and another school staffer named Srikantamurthy. The police have booked the two under relevant sections of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. Additionally, the police have also booked the two under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 34 [(Criminal) acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention], 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).