Balangir, Sept. 5: One person has been arrested while seven others are on the run for ostracising a Dalit family in Tendipali village within the limits of Saintala police station about 40km from here.

“Upper caste villagers allegedly ostracised Gayatri Kumbhar — the only Dalit woman in the village — and her family members. She was not allowed to use water from the village’s sole tubewell. Tagging her an ‘untouchable’, the villagers also imposed a ban on her using the village’s only pond,” said a source.

In her complaint to the police, Gayatri said: “As my husband is away and I live with my children and an elderly father in-law, the upper caste villagers are harassing me. They warned me of dire consequences if I dared to use the village’s pond and tubewell.”

Gayatri’s husband Mishra Kumbhar works in Andhra Pradesh as a migrant labour.

“As there are no other tubewells in the village, I was forced to use the only tubewell. At this, the villagers damaged the tubewell. They also abused me when I went to the village pond,” she said.

Titilagarh sub-divisional police officer Dillip Purohit said they arrested one Dhubale Sahu, 23, acting on Gayatri’s complaint. “On the basis of her complaint, we have registered a case against eight persons. Dhubale was immediately nabbed and remanded in judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected. We are trying our best to apprehend the others,” Purohit said.