Kaitade and Raut also cite the fact that of the nine answer-sheets seized by police to be sent to forensic lab for checking cow’s urine that fell on them, six belong to OBC students and three to Dalit students.

Raut defends her secular credentials by telling how she gave a prize of Rs 51 to a Dalit student Harshadeep Sukhdeve for being “neat and clean” from her own pocket. “When former Surewada Sarpanch Rasika Bagde, a Dalit, died a few years ago, all teachers collected money for last rites and I donated rice worth Rs 220,” Raut, teaching at the school since past seven years, says.

Five of the aggrieved Dalit students—Sonali Meshram, Sneha Khobragade, Naina Sukhdeve, Priya Goswami and Mayuri Sukhdeve—admit that the lady teacher didn’t ever harass them because they were Dalits. “But we were offended by the fact that they performed the shanti and suddhikaran (purification) rituals on us,” says Sonali Meshram. “So, about 20 of us told our parents about it.”

Asked if they were segregated and then sprinkled with urine, Sonali said, “They had seated us together.”