Crematorium turns 'casteist' as 'upper caste' people forbid funeral of Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh

In a shocking incident reflecting prevalence of the caste system in the country, upper caste people allegedly 'forced' members of the SC community to take off the funeral pyre the body of a 'Dalit' woman in Uttar Pradesh's Agra district, about 350 kilometres from here, saying that the cremation ground was 'reserved' for them only.

According to the police sources here, the members of the dead woman's family, who hailed from the 'Nat' community, whose members were 'acrobats' and also dancers and singers, had to take the body to a different cemetery for performing the last rites.

''Just as the woman's six year old son was about to light the pyre, a group of thakur community members reached there and asked us not to cremate the body there as the cremation ground was theirs,'' said a member of the 'Nat' woman's family.

District police chief Babloo Kumar said that the matter was being investigated. ''The matter will be probed by a circle office....we will take stern action against the guilty,'' Kumar said.

Sources, however, said that the 'Nat' family had not yet filed any written complaint with the police perhaps fearing a backlash from the upper caste members.

BSP supremo Mayawtai slammed the incident and demanded a high-level probe into the same.

''It is shameful that a Dalit woman's body was not allowed to be cremated as the cremation ground belonged to the upper castes...the government must take stern action so that such incidents did not recur,'' Mayawati said on Tuesday.