For dalits, haircuts too banned here

LIMBODARA (GANDHINAGAR): Within the last seven days, two dalit youths were allegedly beaten by upper castes for sporting moustaches in Limbodara, but the discrimination in this village in Kalol taluka, reportedly, ranges from barring dalits from barber shops to not allowing a dalit groom to ride a horse. When contacted, a village barber, Vijay Limbachiya, said that they cannot cut the hair or shave beards of dalit community members, because darbar community members, who are dominant in the village, will take objection. “It’ll ruin our business,” he said. Dalits of Limbodara have to travel about 8km from the village to find a barber.

Govind Maheria, a dalit villager, said two years ago his son-in-law was made to walk and not allowed to ride a horse during his daughter Nita Maheria’s wedding. “My son-in-law Kapil Vaghela is a police in Sardarnagar police station, Ahmedabad, and yet he was not allowed to ride a horse during the wedding. But I could not file a complaint against darbars, because my community was scared to support me,” he said.

The recent assaults on Piyush Parmar, 24, and

Krunal Maheria

, 30, over moustaches, are just two instances of the discrimination which is a common law and order issue in this village, just 15km from Gandhinagar, the state capital. However, since 2001, only three atrocity cases, including the recent two, have been registered.

Satish Maheria, a village youth, said dalits here face discrimination on a regular basis. “Our elders refrain from lodging police complaints under pressure from the upper caste darbars,” Maheria said.

The narrow lanes of the village, which has a population of about 7,000, lead to about 100 dalit families who stay near the end or outskirt of the village. They include sub-castes like Rohits, Vankars and Valmikis.

Two police constables in plain clothes,

Vijay Bhimabhai

and Govindkumar Manilal, armed only with lathis, sit under a tree at a three-road junction at the outskirts of the village, in the name of security provided to the dalit youths.

A darbar community member, Nathuji Vaghela, who was sitting just besides them on a cement bench said, “Yes, I have heard that the dalit youths were beaten by some darbar youths for sporting moustaches”.

“We can only watch garba and not sing. Even in village feasts, we are not allowed to eat with upper caste Hindus,” added Satish Maheria. Another dalit youth, Rohit Maheria, a commerce graduate, said, “While the upper caste darbars address our elders by name, we are forced to address even a darbar kid as Bapu.”