Karnataka: Upper caste villagers 'purify' public tank after Dalit woman drinks water from it in Chamarajanagar

New Delhi: A few upper caste villagers drained out drinking water from a public tank and "purfied" it with cow urine after a Dalit woman drank water from it in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar district, reports said.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the tehsildar and social welfare department officials rushed to the spot and conducted a probe as the incident went viral on social media.

Local officials confirmed the incident after carrying out an inspection and later submitted a report to the tehsildar, the report added.

The tehsildar will now file a comprehensive report to the District Collector for further action, NDTV reported.

What happened

The Dalit woman who came from another place visited the Heggatora village on Saturday.

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She drank water from the storage tank situated in an upper caste locality following which the Lingayats drained the water out, the Hindustan Times report said.

“On Friday, there was a wedding in the Dalit community at the village. The woman came from HD Kote to attend the wedding. She drank water from the public tank and hurriedly got into the bus. Soon after, the villagers abused the woman and decided to purify the tank,” HT quoted a villager as saying.

Efforts underway to trace the Dalit woman

Meanwhile, officials have been trying to trace the woman to record her statement and make her file a police complaint.

“The social welfare department officers are trying to trace the woman to record her statement and file a complaint. Elders of the Dalit community have already registered an FIR at the Chamarajanagara rural police station,” HT quoted tehsildar Basavaraju as saying.

According to Hindustan Times, the officials told villagers that the water storage tank is a public property and everyone could drink water from it.

The tehsildar also took more than 20 Dalit youth to all public drinking water taps in the village and made them drink water, the report added.

With inputs from agencies

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