Thursday, April 28, 2011

9-year-old Girl Struggles to Recover 3 Years After Being Thrown into a Fire

On April 29, 2008 in Trauali Jhanauti village in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh 6-year-old Kamlesh, a Dalit (untouchable), was walking with her mother, Manju, when she walked onto a road meant for the "upper cast". What happened next seems so horrific that it defies all semblance of humanity.

According to Gulf News a local man identified as Sunny allegedly beat Kamlesh and then threw her into a fire pit. When Manju, who was 8 months pregnant at the time, attempted to rescue her daughter she was attacked by several men and beaten unconscious. After regaining consciousness she was able to pull Kamlesh to safety but she had suffered severe burns over a large portion of her body.

Kamlesh is now 9 years old and the pain and scars serve as a constant reminder of what has been called another case of caste violence left unpunished. She lost the ability to move her right elbow and hand. She will also need extensive plastic surgery to repair the scars. According to Gulf News the family has exhausted their modest finances paying for the medical care that has been necessary over the past three years. Without outside assistance it appears unlikely that the family will be able to afford the medical care necessary for Kamlesh to regain the use of her arm or the plastic surgery that would help hide the scars of this horrid act.

Four people were named in the 2008 complaint but only Sunny was arrested. Manju was left so traumatized that she developed what is only being described as "psychiatric issues" and was unable to testify in court. Although there were other witnesses they would not testify out of fear. Sunny was released after 6 months and the charges where withdrawn.

Kamlesh's father, Saudan Singh told IBN::
“This is not the first time that this has happened. The problem is no one comes forward to speak. No one came forward to help,”

The traumatic and unthinkable acts committed against  Kamlesh on that day seems a high price to pay for a young girl not "knowing her place" in society.

1 comment:

  1. Way to use the internet to help poelpe solve problems!

    ReplyDelete

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