Take strict action: NCPCR to Rajasthan Govt on Dalit boy beaten to death for touching water pot

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Apex child rights body NCPCR has sought strict action by the Rajasthan government against those responsible for allegedly beating to death a nine-year-old Dalit boy for touching a drinking water pot.

Indra Meghwal, a student of a private school in Surana village of Rajasthan's Jalore district, was beaten up by his teacher on July 20 and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Ahmedabad on August 13. Police have arrested the teacher, Chail Singh, 40, and charged him with murder and under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), in a letter to the district magistrate, said the matter is serious and sought copies of the FIR, action taken by the administration against the accused and a transcript of the action taken by the police administration within seven days.

The state education department has initiated an inquiry into the matter and Rajasthan SC Commission chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa ordered that it be taken up under the case officer’s scheme for fast investigation.

Superintendent of Police of Jalore Harsh Vardhan Agarwalla said the boy was beaten up badly and added that the reason cited for it — touching a drinking water pot — was yet to be ascertained.