Bulandshahr: A deathly silence is broken intermittently by wailing women as one approaches the last house of Nayagaon village on Chandpur Road in Bulandshahr district. There are no words to express the pain of losing two women of the family in a brutal way two evenings ago. Just angry gazes.
Two days after an upper caste youth crushed four members under his four-wheeler, killing two women on the spot, for resisting molestation of a girl of the family, the womenfolk of the house are two shocked to speak. As one tries to strike a conversation with men, they narrate the story of sufferings they have to undergo because they are dalits and in minority in the village.
"It was upper castes' aggressive attitude that led to the attack on us. Had it not been caste disparity, our women would still have been alive," says Ramvir Singh, one of the two brothers who lost their wives. Besides, two male members were admitted to hospital after an upper caste (Thakur) youth Nakul Thakur allegedly crushed four members of this dwelling when they resisted his attempt to pull a young woman of this family into his vehicle on Monday evening.
Nayagaon is a small Thakur-dominated village located on the outskirts of Bulandshahr city on Chandpur Road. Out of 70 households, 15 belong to Dalits. While Thakur claim there has never been a caste-related tension here but Dalits disagree.
"Not too often but undercurrents have always been there that occasionally surface, exposing the deep hidden disdain against the lower caste. Just last year, I was drawn into a tiff and upper caste youths hit me in the head with a bottle. We are in minority here so didn't involve cops but Monday night incident was beyond our wildest apprehension," says Dharmender Kumar, Ramvir's neighbour.
The local Thakur community, however, downplays the caste angle and terms the entire episode as an accident. Suman Devi, main accused Nakul's mother, says, "Nakul had recently got a contract for running a taxi. Monday night incident was an accident. It is sad that two lives were lost but girl's harassment angle is an afterthought for sure. The truth is that the family hadn't even recognized who was in the vehicle at the time of accident. Nakul's identity was revealed only from his ID that he left at the vehicle involved in the accident. Now politics is being played by bringing in caste angle."
Source: Times of India
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