A Dalit man from Idikarai in Coimbatore lodged a complaint with the Periyanaickenpalayam police on Thursday, alleging that the headmistress of his 10-year-old daughter’s school forced her to clean the school toilet.
The complainant accused the headmistress of the government primary school of resorting to casteist slur against the girl and beating her when she refused to clean the toilet.
As per the complaint, a copy of which was circulated among mediapersons, the class V student refused to go to school for two days, and also refused to eat.
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When enquired, she told her parents that the headmistress forced her to clean the school toilet for two weeks.
The complainant alleged that the headmistress asked her to clean the toilet again on Tuesday. When the girl refused, the headmistress beat her and told her that people belonging to her caste were doing such works and therefore what was her difficulty in doing so.
The parent wanted the police to register a case against the headmistress under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
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When contacted, the Periyanaickenpalayam police said that they were yet to register a case or issue a community register service on the complaint.
A senior police officer said that the police were conducting a preliminary inquiry before taking action on the complaint.