Jagtial: Reddy community members refuse to eat food served by Dalits on Hanuman Jayanti

Hyderabad: Police have registered a case after people from the Reddy community refused to have food served by the Dalits on Hanuman Jayanti in Jagtial.

The incident happened at Nadikudi village in Mallapur Mandal of Jagtial on April 16.

"During the annadanam (food donation), Reddy community members did not allow Dalits to serve food. As a result, there was a small argument between the two communities," said Limbadri, a Bahujan Samaj Party member from Jagtial.

SHO Mallapur said the SC community was serving food, but few people from the Reddy community did not like it. "So they went to a separate table and served the food themselves," he said.

The SHO said that a case has been registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the investigation is going on.

However, Limbadri said such incidents of caste discrimination are not isolated. He said the discrimination exists even today in the villages across the state.

He said a similar incident took place took place during the Ram Navami celebration on April 10 in Aara Peta village in Jagtial. "During the annadanam programme, the lower caste people cook and serve food for the upper caste. This has been a practice for 20 years. Among the Dalits, there is a caste called Madigas who clean the food plates. This year, during Ram Navami celebration, they refused to clean the plates. And this led to an argument between the Reddys and Dalits," said Limbadri

. Eleven people were arrested by the police in this case, he said.