representative image. file | Photo Credit: T. Singaravelu
The Theni district police have arrested 26 people for allegedly pelting stones during a Manjuvirattu program at Vadugapatti in Theni district on January 16 and 17.
Following the complaints, the Thenkarai police registered sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(s) under sections 147, 148, 294(b), 341, 427, 324 and 506(2) of the IPC. Case registered under. 2) of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Amendment Act 2015 (VA) on Tuesday.
Police said that when members of the Scheduled Castes gathered to participate in the program on January 16, some upper caste Hindus in the village objected to their presence. After a verbal spat, the Scheduled Castes stayed away for about two hours and attended only after the upper caste Hindus had left the venue.
Scheduled caste youths complained about the incident, while community elders called it a practice of untouchability and demanded legal action.
The complainant, M. Kamaladevi, a Scheduled Caste woman, said the police, however, persuaded her to leave the venue. As the case remained unsolved, on 17 January, around 200 members of the community gathered in front of Chavadi to express their frustration over the police’s intransigence.
The uneasiness subsided when upper caste Hindus also gathered there. The matter turned into stone pelting on each other. Women and children ran away to save their lives. Both sides alleged that they were beaten up with wooden sticks.
In her complaint, Ms. Kamaladevi alleged that some youths poured kerosene on her two children to set them on fire.
“We immediately took him to the government hospital in Periyakulam,” she said. Meanwhile, a fact-finding team from Madurai-based NGO Evidence visited the village.
Evidence Executive Director A Kathir told Hindu The feedback from the villagers indicated that the issue could have been resolved if the police had taken firm action on the very first day itself.
Instead of enforcing the law, the police action appeared to be “biased” towards upper caste Hindus and only interested in achieving a ‘compromise’.
The NGO team demanded that the police register a case of attempt to murder against the upper caste Hindus as they allegedly poured kerosene on two children.
The team members also wanted the government to organize a peace meeting at the earliest as the residents had fled their settlement fearing arrest and retaliation by upper caste Hindus.