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Mamta (15) of Nrusinghpur village near Bhubaneswar is the only girl in the entire Dalit (Bauri) community of the area to pass the matriculation examination. She vowed to become a teacher in order to help other Dalit girls.

But her dreams lay shattered when upper caste people banned her from riding a bicycle through the village to college.

“I am illiterate but I wished for my daughter to get an education and make her life,” Ghanshyam Nayak, Mamta’s father lamented.

“Despite living in sheer poverty, I sent her to school. She also made me proud by passing her matriculation. But now I think all our dreams will never come true. The villagers of Naputan Gaon have threatened me not to send her to college by bicycle. It is difficult to walk to college as it is 7 km away.”

There are 75 Dalit families at Nrusinghpur against 300 upper caste households in Naputan Gaon. There is only one connecting road to the Dalit’s village that passes through the upper caste village.

For years Dalits have not been allowed to go on that road riding any vehicle, even a bicycle. This practice continues. This is perhaps one reason that their children could not study. The schools are far.

“We feel proud that Mamta passed the matriculation examination despite all odds,” says Maguni Nayak a resident of the Dalit village. “She was going to school walking 3 km. But she can’t walk to college 7 km away. We pleaded with the upper caste people to change this practice or provide us a separate road. But our pleas were neither heard by the upper castes nor by the government.”

Even the Dalits’ relatives don’t want to come to this village due to this practice. If anybody who visited chanced to ride a vehicle, the upper castes would call and humiliate them.

Mamta is nevertheless an inspiration for the girls of the village. Says Sumitra, “We also wanted to study, but the school is so far, we lost interest.”

Meanwhile, when Mamta attempted to go to college by bicycle, the upper castes held a meeting in the village, called Mamta’s father and warned him of dire consequences. Mamta’s mother was so scared, she refused to let Mamta go to college.

After the upper castes’ decision, Mamta came to Bhubaneswar, held a press conference and demanded the government intervene in the matter. When journalists went to cover that story, the upper castes threatened them. After a long discussion, they said what they were doing is a tradition.

“We do not impose any new rule on the Dalits,” says Kai Mangraj a resident of Naputan Gaon. “We only asked them to go by the traditional practice. Their forefathers were practising this, so why can’t they?”

The sarpanch, when asked about this, said this was the village committee decision. He couldn’t do anything. Now many political organisations have taken up the issue.

BSP state President Akshya Malik said they would give a memorandum to the Governor.

— Grassroots Features