Dalit bodies prevent girl's burial at Hennur

Tense moments were witnessed at a burial ground in Hennur on Sunday when some local residents and dalit organisations prevented a family from burying a 11-year-old girl’s body as they were non-dalits.

The local police had a tough time resolving the issue between leaders of the dalit organisations and the girl’s parents. The parents yielded to the pressure and took the body to Tamil Nadu for burial.

Shwetha,11, a resident of Babusapalya, died of some ailment.
Her body was brought to a burial ground, situated close to a lake, behind the Hennur police station. Some local residents objected to the burial taking place there.

Soon, a host of leaders belonging to dalit organisations rushed there and asked the family not to go ahead with the burial. This led to heated arguments, police said.

The local residents and dalit leaders claimed that the burial ground belonged to dalits. 
They said they could not permit the burial of the body as there was hardly any space there. Shwetha’s parents claimed that they were living in the locality for the last three decades.

They said that they had buried the bodies of their grandparents on the same ground. But, the dalit leaders were firm and stopped the burial.

The police came to the spot after Shwetha’s parents approached them. The police verified the official records and said that the piece of land adjacent to the lake was encroached upon and converted into the burial ground. Converting a part of the lake land into a burial ground was illegal and hence burial of bodies could not be permitted, the police said.

They resolved the matter amicably by holding meetings with both the groups.
“Local residents objected to the burial of the body on the land that was originally part of the lake. We told the parents that rules prevent the burial of the bodies on the lake land and that we will provide security if they bury the body elsewhere. But, the parents decided to bury the body in their native place in Tamil Nadu,” said a police officer.