Petition Campaign: 8 Year Old Dalit Boy Thrown Into Sugarcane Crushing Machine

By Shivangi Joshi

23 January, 2016
Countercurrents.org

Shivam is an 8 year old Dalit (untouchable) boy who lives in the Maharajganj block of district Jaunpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. On December 28th 2015, he was home alone with younger sister, while his parents were off to their daily wage jobs. Two men belonging to the upper-caste, Radhey Shyam Tiwari and Vijay Nath Tiwari, came by to force Shivam to work on their sugarcane crushing machine. Upon Shivam’s refusal to do so, the Tiwaris slapped him and forcibly took him away with them and threw him into the crushing machine where his arm got caught. By the sheer will to survive Shivam was able to run away from the scene and was later found unconscious on the road.

Shivam was eventually rushed by his parents to a private clinic after the government hospital was unable to operate on him but it was too late and Shivam had to have his left arm amputated. The local Maharaj Ganj police refused to file a report against the Tiwaris who had fled from the scene. Only after much effort on the part of two social activists in the area did the police file an FIR (First Information Report) on January 19th, 2016, more than 3 weeks after Shivam was brutally attacked. The case has been registered under section 326/323/504 of the IPC and 3(1)X SC-ST act but so far no arrest has been made.

The district of Jaunpur sees a lot of violence against Dalits. The upper caste Brahmins, Rajputs and Yadavs dominate the region and are the main landowning communities there. Bonded child labor is also very common at brick kilns and carpet industries in this region. Shivam’s family belongs to the Chamar community, one of the biggest communities among Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. They are landless and their daily job as agricultural laborers is their source of livelihood, the earnings from which are not sufficient to cover the costs of Shivam’s surgery.

This incident is not an aberration. The Dalit community is commonly subjected to such gross violations of human rights. They suffer discrimination in other forms such as access to education, economic opportunities, medical care, housing etc. This horrific atrocity clearly highlights many of these forms of discrimination.

This is a CALL TO ACTION to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to see to:

1) The arrest of the perpetrators of this violence- Radhey Sham and Vijay Nath Tiwari, and other Tiwari family members.

2) Suspension of the police officers who refused to file the FIR against the perpetrators.

3) Monetary compensation to be provided to Shivam’s family to cover his medical costs so far and for his full rehabilitation.

4) Legislative action to end bonded child labor and strictly implement the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and prosecute those who continue these practices.

Sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/chief-minister-of-uttar-pradesh-akhilesh-yadav-8-year-old-dalit-boy-thrown-into-sugarcane-crushing-machine?recruiter=36862056&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink