Boycotted for more than a year, Premkumar finally finds acceptance

Premkumar, a barber by profession, was boycotted by the Shrivas community for more than a year until an ETV Bharat report brought the injustice to the notice of the district authorities who spoke to the community members and brought them together.

Mahasamund (Chhattisgarh): On December 24, 2017, Premkumar, a barber by profession was boycotted by his community in Thakurpali village of Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund District for cutting hair and shaving the beard of those belonging to a so-called "lower caste". But, an ETV Bharat report on the issue forced the authorities to visit the village and put an end to the social boycott on Sunday.

After suffering a year and half of social boycott, Premkumar and his family were finally accepted by their community and are yet again living a dignified life.

"The district officials came to our village after ETV Bharat covered my story, and they asked the villagers to live with peace and harmony amongst ourselves and not indulge in discriminatory activities," said an elated Premkumar.

Premkumar owns a salon in the Thakurpali village and earns enough to sustain himself and his family, consisting of his wife and parents. On December 20, he was invited by Uttara Kumar, another villager belonging to the Goda or Dalit community, to a function organised to celebrate the birth of his girl child. Premkumar was asked to provide salon services to the guests arriving at the function.

Five days after attending the ceremony, the members of the Shrivas community, an Other Backward Caste (OBC) community to which Premkumar belonged to, held a meeting in the village and decided to socially boycott the barber and his family. Since then, they were kept away from all social gatherings and programmes.

Ambika Shrivas, Premkumar's wife couldn't attend her sister's marriage held in February 2018, as both husband and wife were not allowed to attend the wedding.

Apart from the mental harassment, the social boycott was also pushing the duo towards bankruptcy and they were facing severe financial constraints.

The couple had filed complaints in the local police station against the boycott and approached the district authorities but to no avail.

Nearly a week after ETV Bharat had reported on this incident, the district authorities sprung into action and called for a meeting between the members of the two communities on Sunday.

A team of district authorities including Judicial Magistrate Bhaskar Mishra, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sadhna Singh, and Station Incharge Vivek Pandey, went to the village to spread awareness on caste discrimination.

"We have requested them to live together with peace and harmony. They've understood and accepted their mistake and have assured us that they will live together peacefully, without any discrimination," said Bhaskar Mishra, Judicial magistrate.

The meeting has helped in breaking the ice between Premkumarand the Shrivas community, who have now accepted him as their own.