August 24, 2005
Her only fault was that she rode her bicycle
to college through a village to attend college.
Mamata Nayak, who wants to be a teacher, was
reprimanded by upper caste villagers for daring
to ride on the village road.
"I for sometime thought I will stop going
to college though it meant my dream of becoming
a teacher will lay in tatters", the 15-year-old
girl said.
Students of the local BJB College today staged
a dharna outside the sub-collector's office
here to protest the incident while demanding
security for the girl.
''It is a case of oppression on Dalits and if
it happens in a village on the outskirts of
Bhubaneswar what can you say of other places,''
said one of the agitating students.
Bahujan Samaj Party state chief Akhyay Mallick
said his party would submit a memorandum to
the governor on this issue.
Mamata, belonging to Narasinghapur village under
Khandagiri police station, is the first girl
from her caste in the village to be a matriculate
and had taken admission in a college, seven
km away. But as she cycled her way to college,
passing through the nearby Nanput village, local
residents objected.
The villagers convened a meeting where the matter
was discussed and Mamata's father Ghanashyam
Nayak and other family members were warned against
allowing the girl to ride through their village.
The disheartened girl stopped going to college
for a couple of days. Then encouraged by others,
she resumed. However, when she reaches Nanput
she walks with her bicycle through the village
and rides it after crossing it.
She has no option but to go take the route at
least during the monsoon. ''I cycled to college
everyday as it is not possible to walk seven
kms to reach it ... I think there should be
a separate road to our village,'' Mamata said.
At the college, she has never felt any discrimination
among the students. ''Students belonging to
upper castes received me warmly. I have never
felt that I come from a poor, Dalit family.
I am happy in the college,'' she said.
