22 October 2023 | The Wire

New Delhi: A Dalit school principal in Gujarat’s Amreli district died by suicide on Friday (October 20).

In a video message he recorded before his death, 52-year-old Kanti Chauhan alleged that the sarpanch of his village had defamed him on the basis of his caste, according to news reports.

“I come from a lower caste but I am doing the work of teaching. Please don’t snatch it away from me. You are trying to malign us by using our caste as a weapon, and it is shameful for you as a sarpanch,” Chauhan said in the video according to the Times of India.

He also said, “[The] sarpanch has been threatening and asking me to hand over the grants which I had received. He [the sarpanch] also circulated a defamatory message about me and my caste in social media groups of villagers,” the New Indian Express reported.

The sarpanch – identified as one Mukesh Borisagar – allegedly pressurised Chauhan to divert school management committee (SMC) funds disbursed by the Gujarat government for other purposes in the village, TOI reported.

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