Etawah: The body of a lower caste woman was taken off the funeral pyre after men from the Thakur community objected to it. The Thakur men also forced the woman`s family to cremate the 26-year-old at Nagla Das cremation ground, which is least four km away from the village and "meant for the Dalit community". Justifying their actions, the Thakur men said "rules" were being followed. The incident happened on July 19 in Kakarpura village in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh after the woman, belonging to the Nat community, died of a uterus infection.

After the woman died, her husband took her body to the gram sabha cremation ground which is used by everyone in the village. Speaking with Times of India, Rahul, the woman`s husband, said just as his four-year-old son was about to light the pyre, a group of men belonging to the Thakur community came running and asked them to take the body to the ground which is meant for the lower castes.

"They asked us to stop the cremation," the woman`s husband said, resulting in a stand-off between the woman`s family relatives and the Thakur men. The gram pradhan and local leaders also intervened in the matter but the Thakur men did not budge. They forced the family to take the woman`s body to another cremation ground. The Thakur community has, however, justified this action. "Every community has a cremation ground. Rules should be followed by everyone. We will not allow any other community to use our cremation area," Chandan Singh, a resident of the village told TOI.

Another argued that the Nats, who he said are nomads, were given the land to live on decades ago. "Is that not enough?" he asked. No FIR has been registered in the case so far. The circle officer said no FIR has been registered as the family of the woman has not filed any complaint against the Thakur men. Circle officer BS Veer Kumar also said the matter was resolved "peacefully".

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.