CHATTARPUR, MP: In a shocking incident, a minor Dalit girl was allegedly beaten up by higher caste women in Ganeshpura village here after the victim's shadow fell on a muscleman belonging to their family, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on June 13 and the complaint was also filed on the same day at Gadi Malhera police station, Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Neeraj Pandey said.

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According to the complaint lodged by the girl's father, the problem began when his daughter was fetching water from a village hand pump and her shadow fell on muscleman Puran Yadav (belonging to a higher caste) when he happened to pass by, the ASP said.

The episode enraged the family of the muscleman to such an extent that the women of the family severely beat the girl and threatened that if she was spotted again at the hand pump, they would kill her, he said.

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Yadav's family also prevented the victim from going to police station, but they somehow managed to reach there. A case under sections 323, 341, 506 of the IPC has been registered against the accused and further investigation is under way.

In several remote pockets of India, where untouchability is still prevalent, people from the lower caste are forbidden to come in contact with those belonging to the higher rung so much so that they can't share their food, cook for them or even look them in the eye. It is even forbidden for their shadow to fall on higher caste people, who consider it as defiling or polluting.