Children Sprinkled with Cow Urine

In some of the most bizarre current news there is a report that teachers sprinkled cow urine on their students.

The incident occurred in a small rural school located in the west of India. According to the report the cow urine was sprinkled on an number of students from low castes in an attempt to make them pure.

The schools headmaster, Sharad Kaitade, ordered the purification. Kaitade just recently took up his position at the school and comes from an upper caste. The school is located in a village called Surewada. In the reports that have come out of India via 'The Times of India' say that teachers at the Surewade were told by Kaitade to purify the low caste children by sprinkling cow urine on them. The purifying took place during a prayer ceremony specially held for the occasion.

The ceremony took place while the low caste students were in the middle of taking an exam. According to reports the faces of the children were sprinkled with cow urine, which also wet the answer sheet of their exam.

One of the students that spoke about the incident is Rajat Washnik. Washnik said that the teacher said, "you'll study well after getting purified." The students that were subject to the cow urine spoke of their embarrassment.

As many know cows are sacred to Hindus. It is also believed that the urine of cows has special powers of purification. In religious terms cow urine is called 'gau mutra'. Cow dung is many rural areas of India is often used as a disinfectant and fuel. Cow urine is said to be a cure for conditions such a cancer, obesity and live disease by many nationalists.

The school in Surewade consists of a majority of children that come from upper castes. In total 210 children attend the school. Prior to Kaitade, the headmistress post was held by someone from a low caste.

After the incident a number of parents went to the police in anger at the incident. The two teachers involved in the incident were arrested and have since posted bail and were released.

The caste system in India is complex and it is the cause of much discrimination in the country. The constitution of India is secular and has forbidden discrimination based on caste. However, even with this ban, caste discrimination, particularly of those in the bottom caste, the Dalits, is extremely common. There are reports that if a Dalits used a temple to worship or a well of the upper castes they were beaten and sometimes even killed. The common term for a Dalit is 'untouchable'. These people account for around 160 million Indians. There are currently over one billion people living in India.

Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSSP32758320070423
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/04/23/teachers_sprinkle_cow_urine_on_students/