Bhandara: Caste corrupts civil society even in the 21st century. A so-called upper caste teacher at a zilla parishad higher middle school in Surewada village, about nine km from Bhandara city in Maharashtra, sprinkled 'gomutra' (cow's urine) on students and also inside the classrooms to "purify'' them and drive out an "evil spirit'' from the premises. The incident occurred earlier this month.

The ZP school runs classes from standards I to VII and has 210 students, including 20 Dalit students. Last month, Tilottama Tembhurkar, headmistress of the school, who belongs to a 'lower' caste, was transferred but not relieved of her charge. However, teachers from the upper castes believed that Tembhurkar's presence was inauspicious for the school.

In the last week of March, Tembhurkar handed over charge to senior teacher Sharad Kaitade (an upper caste). In early April, when he formally took over as the school headmaster, Kaitade allegedly performed a puja in the school and asked a teacher, Madhavi Raut, to sprinkle gomutra to "purify'' the classrooms and the students. Raut promptly went around the school premises and classes sprinkling cow's urine. She entered the class where Dalit students were solving their examination paper and sprayed urine over them, saying it would 'purify' them.

Raut allegedly asked the Dalit students to get up and sprinkled 'gomutra' on them, saying it would 'purify' them. However, while doing so, some of it fell on the answer sheets and the students' faces too. Feeling humiliated, the students narrated the incident to their parents, who along with other villagers, registered a protest with Kaitade.

Subsequently, both he and Raut tendered apologies to the villagers and assured such an incident would not recur. But the villagers wanted a written apology, which the teachers refused. They approached the district collector and superintendent of police, Bhandara, demanding action against the erring headmaster and the lady teacher.

The administration ordered a probe into the incident. Finding substance in the villagers' complaint, an offence was registered against Kaitade under Section 7, 1(D) of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1985. He was arrested and later released on bail.

(Source: The Times of India dated 21 April 2007)