Sprinkling of cow urine on Dalit students was the last thing anyone should have tried in a district that has become sensitive to caste issues after the killing of a Dalit family in Khairlanji last year. So, when two “upper caste” teachers from a Zilla Parishad (ZP) school in Surewada village, about 8 km from here, committed the crime (inviting the slapping of the Protection of Civil Rights Act) on April 4, they ended up causing old wounds to open.

Dalit community from the village is outraged by the teachers subjecting their sons and daughters to the “Hindu” ritual. The accused, however, say they didn’t do it only to Dalit students. Meanwhile, caste-oriented organisations have pitched in to defend “their” people.

On Friday, delegations of social organisation Chhava and Shiv Sena met Additional Collector N B Wati and told him that the two teachers, Sharad Kaitade and Madhavi Raut, only performed a “routine” ritual and didn’t do anything out of caste motives. Teachers’ organisations have also come to their defence.

Aggrieved Dalit students told The Indian Express that Raut sprinkled urine on them when they were solving the Geography paper on April 4. They said they had been seated together. Kaitade admits to instructing Raut to sprinkle urine to “purify” the surroundings “since he wanted to start on a good note after taking over as headmaster in-charge.”

Raut admits to following the order. “But it is entirely false that I did it to only Dalit students. Actually, I sprinkled it in the air and some droplets might have fallen on the students. But they fell on all students, not only Dalits,” she says and adds, “Don’t we perform Saraswati puja or Ambedkar jayanti or such other functions in schools?”

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