Dalit woman suffers miscarriage after assaulted by Karnataka coffee estate owner
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A 20-year-old coffee farm worker complained of miscarriage after she was assaulted by her employer on Saturday in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru district.
The farm owner Jagadeesh Gowda allegedly attacked Arpitha, who is a Dalit, after detaining her along with 13 other workers in one of the houses they lived on the farm in Pura village near Janugadde here, according to a report in The News Minute.
Gowda asked them to hand in their phones, barring them from stepping out of the farm after demanding them to pay the money they borrowed from him.
She is reportedly said to have resisted the farm owner's demands when she was pushed against the wall, causing blood loss and miscarriage.
Arpitha's mother Geetha who complained the Balehonnur police of the incident said six Dalit families working on the estate stayed in a line of houses on the farm.
Over an unrest for the last two weeks after a fight between Jagadeesh and one of the workers Manju, workers decided find work elsewhere. An irate Jagadeesh ordered around the workers not leave until they returned the money they were indebted him.
Nevertheless a complaint was lodged against the estate owner, he was not yet arrested, according to the report.
Geetha told TNM that the estate owner would not allow the workers to get their ration and then her daughter argued with him before being pushed to wall.
Pushed to wall and when Arpita complained of pain, the farm owner's son Tilak took her to the government hospital where the health staff said she had suffered severe blood loss and miscarriage, the report said.
