Dalitnetwork.org A Dalit Baby. image:39556:3::0

India has many classes of people, though government laws prohibit class-based discrimination. Dalits or “untouchables” are considered low class-people and are often subject to discrimination. This prejudice exists mostly in rural areas.

The 6-year-old girl in this story was walking with her mother in the city of Mathura when she chose to walk through a path reserved for upper-class villagers.

An upper-class man in his late teens saw the girl and got angry. He scolded them both and pushed the girl into a pile of burning embers by the side of the road according to the police. The girl was still in critical condition Wednesday.

The man confessed to the crime and was charged with attempted murder according to Chaturvedi, a police superintendent.

The state in which this incident took place is governed by a Dalit woman, Mayawati, who is trying to improve conditions of Dalits.

Hindus believe there are five main groups of people, four of which came from the body of the first man. As CNN reports:

The Brahmin class comes from the mouth. They are the priests and holy men, the most elevated of the castes.

Next is the Ksatriyas, the kings, warriors and soldiers created from the arms.

The Vaisyas come from the thighs. They are the merchants and traders of society.

And the Sudras, or laborers, come from the feet.

The last group is the Dalits, or the "untouchables." They're considered too impure to have come from the primordial being. Untouchables are often forced to work in menial jobs. They drink from separate wells. They use different entry ways, coming and going from buildings.

The US-based Dalit Freedom Network (DFN) fighting for the rights of Dalits say there are about 250 million Dalits, or 25 per cent of the population.

The DFN says on their website:

"Dalits are seen to pollute higher caste people if they come in touch with them, hence the 'untouchables…If a higher caste Hindu is touched by, or even had a Dalit's shadow fall across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed."

I hope the Indian government takes serious actions against such acts. This class system is another form of racism and I think it's a disgrace to humanity.