Teachers in India reportedly sprinkle cow urine on several students to purify them

NEW DELHI (AP) - Teachers in a village school in western India sprinkled cow urine on several low-caste students to purify them, a news report said Saturday.
Sharad Kaitade, a new upper-caste headmaster at a school in Surewada village in Maharashtra state, allegedly ordered a few teachers to hold a special prayer ceremony and purify the school premises and the low-caste students, The Times of India reported.

The cow is held sacred by observant Hindus and "gau mutra" or cow urine is considered a purifier.

The school has 210 students, most of them belonging to the upper castes, and until recently had a lower-caste headmistress.

Police is investigating the incident, local police chief Suresh Sagar told CNN-IBN news channel.

The country's estimated 160 million dalits, the people on the lowest rung of the complex Hindu social order have suffered severe discrimination for centuries.

Caste-based discrimination was outlawed by India's constitution in 1950. Yet despite decades of affirmative action programs and notable individual dalits who have risen to positions of power, including a former president and the current chief justice, discrimination remains rife.

© The Canadian Press, 2007