Uttarakhand: Dalit cook sacked after upper caste students boycott meals she made; CM orders probe

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday ordered a probe into the alleged sacking of a Dalit woman cook at a government school in Champawat after some upper cast students refused to eat the meal cooked by her. Dhami asked Kumaon DIG Nilesh Anand Bharne to conduct a probe into the incident after visiting the school at Sukhidhang and take stern action against the guilty. Bharne has also been asked to keep tabs on those spreading rumours about the incident, an official release here said. A day after her appointment of the “Bhojanmata” earlier this month, upper-caste students had stopped eating the meal cooked by her because of her caste and began bringing their food from home in tiffin boxes. Even the parents of the students had objected to her appointment. Officials had earlier said her appointment had been cancelled as it was found that the norms had not been followed in this regard.