A school teacher in UP's Amethi was booked for allegedly discriminating against children on the basis of their caste. A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed in the matter against the teacher identified as Kusum Soni under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act. The FIR was lodged on the basis of a written complaint filed by the parent of a Dalit student studying at Primary School Vanpurwa, Gaderi gram panchayat.
The father of the child has alleged that the teacher beats his child up and makes children sit in separate queues for upper castes and Dalits during midday meals.
While speaking to ANI, Jeev Narayan, the parent said, " A teacher named Kusum Soni beats my children because he belongs to the lower caste. During midday meals, she makes separate queues for upper castes and Dalits. I belong to the Dalit community."
However, the teacher, Kusum Soni, denied the allegations. She said, "I treat everyone at par. Everyone is seated together. As far as the false allegations are concerned, one Pawan Dubey, claiming to be village head's representative had come here and pushed everyone out and locked gates.
He clicked the school's pictures and posted them on social media mentioning the discrimination against the students. I have filed a police complaint regarding this matter."
"The majority of the students belong to Schedule Castes (ST), others are Other Backward Class (OBC). Only four students from the general category. We are following the social distancing during midday meals and people are taking this thing in a wrong way," she added.
The village head, Vinay Kumar Jaiswal, said, "Some parents and students had come with the complaints of discrimination. They complained to me about the issues during meals at the school. I went to the school, but could not find the teacher there. It complained that she doesn't come on time and does not take care of the students."
(With ANI Inputs)