Dalits in Karnataka village face boycott over POCSO complaint against upper caste youth

Dalit families of a village in Yadgir district are allegedly facing social boycott after a person from the community lodged a POCSO complaint against an ‘upper caste’ youth, police said on Saturday.

The complaint was lodged in August after a minor girl was allegedly impregnated by a 20-year-old man belonging to an upper caste of the same village near Hunasagi taluk, they said.

Since the girl belongs to lower caste, the man refused to marry her and also threatened the family not to disclose it.

A section of villagers have allegedly decided to boycott the members of the Dalit community after the victim’s family failed to reach a compromise.

On Friday, a peace committee meeting was organised by district officials and all the differences were sorted out.

“Now, things have returned to normalcy. Issues have been sorted,” a senior police officer said.

A case was registered under sections of rape, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused.

The man was arrested and sent to judicial custody, he added.