Kamalesh in hospital. (Below) Sunil. Pictures by Naeem Ansari

Lucknow, April 30: An eight-year-old Dalit girl was set on fire in a Mathura village for crossing a road used by upper castes.

Kamalesh, the daughter of Saudam Jatav, a landless Dalit, is fighting for her life in hospital.

Deputy superintendent of police Bireswar Mishra said the child took the road while returning home last evening with cattle.

Madan Singh alias Sunil, a Thakur through whose land the road passes, spotted Kamalesh and started screaming at her.

“He came running and began yelling at her. He asked her to leave the road. ‘This road is not for you,’ he kept repeating,” the DSP said.

When the girl refused to budge, Sunil dragged her to an oven meant to boil sugarcane juice and pushed her into it.

Kamalesh screamed for help for several minutes before local residents heard her cries and pulled her out. By then, she had suffered 40 per cent burns. “Her condition is critical,” a doctor in the Mathura hospital said.

As news spread across Mathura district, hundreds of Dalits gathered in front of Khata police station, 400km from here, in protest. Taurali village, where the child was burnt, comes under Khata police station.

The police said Sunil denied throwing her into the fire and claimed it was an accident.

Senior superintendent of police, Mathura, R.K. Chaturvedi said: “We have arrested Sunil. He has been booked under Section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder.”

Chaturvedi added that Sunil had also been charged under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Protection of Civil Rights) Act and denied that the road was reserved for upper castes.

“It is wrong.… It is a general road and everybody was moving on it. There were so many women and children going through that road. The road was never obstructed by people and it was an act of an individual,” he said.

Chaturvedi insisted it was an “isolated incident” and had “nothing to do with any particular community”.

“We are thinking of taking more serious action against the accused under the Gangsters Act.… We want a message to go out so that nobody does such a thing again,” he said. Sunil, he added, did not have a crime record.

Attacks on Dalits have been rising since Mayavati, who claims to be a champion of Dalits, took over as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh last year.

“Yes, in the last few months, there has been a spurt in violence against Dalits in a state ruled by the BSP. But this may be because the Dalits are also asserting themselves and daring to challenge the upper castes,” said Romesh Dixit, who teaches political science in Lucknow University.