Tank Cleaned With Cow Urine In Karnataka After Dalit Woman Drinks Water

So-called upper caste people in a Karnataka village drained a water tank and 'purified' it with cow urine after a Dalit woman allegedly drank water from its tap. 

On November 18, a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste, who was attending a marriage function at the Heggotara village in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar district, drank water from a drinking water tank in an area where people from so-called upper castes live. Outraged, they released all the water from the tank and cleaned it with gau mutra (cow urine), which is considered to be holy by some.

"The water tank was cleaned, but I can't confirm if it was with gau mutra," IE Basvaraj, the local jurisdictional Tahseeldar told NDTV, adding that no one had seen the woman drinking water from the tank, and she hasn't been traced so far. 

"We are trying to identify and locate her. Once it happens, we will file a case (of discrimination)," Mr Basvraj said.

There are several tanks in the village with written messages that everyone can drink water from there.

The local authorities took several villagers from the Dalit and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities to all the tanks and made them drink water.

The Tahseeldar will now file a comprehensive report to the District Collector for further action, he said.