Yadgir village boycotts 50 Dalit families over girl’s Pocso complaint

Yadgir: A village in North Karnataka's Yadgir district has imposed social boycott on 50 Dalit families after a minor Dalit girl's parents refused to withdraw a sexual-assault case against a 23-year-old upper-caste boy after the duo's relationship turned sour and she was found to be five months pregnant.
Following the boycott call, about 250 Dalits residing in Bapparaga village's two colonies have been denied access to grocery and stationery shops, temples, salons and public spaces.Dalit children cannot buy basic school supplies like pens and notebooks.
Village elders from the upper caste reportedly announced the boycott on August 13, the day Chandrashekhar Hanamantaraya Biradar was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in the Pocso case. An audio recording of the boycott call has gone viral now. Yadgir is about 500km from Bengaluru.
Yadgir superintendent of police Sangeetha denied any evidence of the alleged situation in the village where she's currently camping to broker peace. The officer called the situation normal. She has urged village elders "to refrain from inhumane practices" such as boycott and ostracism. The villagers have reportedly agreed to her request.
Police sources said the 15-year-old girl and the boy were reportedly in a relationship. Saying he would marry her, he allegedly sexually assaulted the girl, who reported the matter to her parents in early August when she was five months pregnant.
When the girl's family asked the boy to honour the word and marry her, the boy's family reportdly rejected it. Then the girl's parents filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act at the Narayanapura police station on August 12.
Following the complaint, upper-caste members called the girl's parents for negotiations. However, the minor's parents decided to proceed with the Pocso case against the youth. Angered by this, the village's upper-caste leaders imposed a social boycott on the Dalit community the next day.
The village with a population of 1,500 is in Hunsagi taluk of the district, adjacent to the Narayanapura dam built across the Krishna river and primarily grows paddy.