Image used for representational purpose only

MANALI: The police on Tuesday booked authorities of a government primary school in Himachal Pradesh ’s Mandi district over allegations that its Dalit students are forced to sit separately during midday meals.

Sources said some students complained to their parents that they were being made to sit in separate lines while being served midday meals at the institution in Nauna village. When their parents went to verify the allegation, they found it to be true and made a video of the same.

The parents alleged that teachers first ignored their complaint but later asked the students to sit according to their roll numbers.

The case was subsequently registered based on the video and a written complaint by one of the parents.

Mandi SP Gurdev Chand Sharma said the complainant showed the video to the police on Tuesday. “A case under The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 has been registered. Our deputy superintendent of police is investigating the matter,” he said.

