Kushinagar: Despite the fact that untouchability has been banned in India, discrimination against Dalits still exists, unfortunately, more so even in the times of a pandemic.
On Monday, an FIR was lodged against a man in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district for allegedly refusing to eat food cooked by a Dalit village head at a quarantine centre.
The person identified as Siraj Ahmad had returned from Delhi on March 29, and was staying at the quarantine centre at the village primary school along with other four people.
The incident happened on April 10, when the village head, Lilawati Devi, who is a Dalit, went to the quarantine centre and prepared food for the five people lodged there due to the cook’s absence. However, refused to eat the food cooked by her.
On his refusal, Devi informed Sub-Divisional Magistrate Deshdeepak Singh and Block Development Officer Ramakant about the incident and lodged a police complaint on Sunday.
After conducting investigation, the police registered a FIR against him under the SC/ST Act on Monday.
Meanwhile, following the incident, Vijay Dubey, the local BJP MLA, went to the house of village head and asked her to serve him food cooked by her, to set an example.
“Untouchability is a social evil that cannot be tolerated at any cost,” he said.
