Dalit forced to cremate wife’s body in front of house

Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Aug 11 (IANS) A Dalit man in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district cremated the body of his wife in front of his house, claiming he was not allowed to use the cremation ground by upper caste people.

The man, identified as Bablu, claimed the cremation ground has been encroached upon by "upper caste" people. However, the local administration says the land was illegally occupied by the Dalits.

The incident happened in Garhi village of Morena's Ambah town on Tuesday. When Bablu arrived at the cremation ground with his wife Pooja's body, he was told he cannot cremate the body as the land belongs to the so-called upper caste people.

Dalit villagers said they all face the same problem as the "upper castes" have started farming on the land meant for cremation.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (revenue) D.C. Sandhi on Thursday told IANS that there was a cremation ground for Dalits in the village, but it was being illegally occupied by a few people of the same community.

He denied that Bablu was stopped from using the cremation ground.

Sandhi said Bablu has been awarded financial assistance of Rs 10,000, and the authorities have begun the process to remove the encroachment from the cremation land.