Tamil Nadu: Allegation of ‘False’ Case Against Victims After Dalit Youths Attacked for Carrying Deity in Temple Procession
CPI(M) condemns the caste-atrocity and demands action. Image credit: Theekkathir
Dominant caste members reportedly waged a brutal attack on Dalit youths who, along with members of other communities, had carried the temple deity idol during the Sethur village temple festival procession on May 26.
The festival and fire-walking ceremony of Sri Nithyakalyani Mariamman temple in Sethur village took place last month. The festival witnesses the participation of all the communities in the village, situated near Perambur of Mayiladuthurai district.
Dalit youths Vignesh, Yogaraj, Anandaraj, Vijayaraj and Subhash, who were on their way to the temple to worship the deity after the procession, were allegedly blocked by dominant caste members Balamurugan, Abhimanyu, Saravanan, Manikandan, Balasubramanian, Rajesh and others. The youths were brutally attacked, and their caste titles were reportedly used as abuses. The attackers had allegedly brought weapons with the intention to cause injury to the youths.
The Dalit youths were seriously injured and were being treated at the Mayiladuthurai Government Hospital. Yet, the Tamil Nadu Police have filed a case against the "victims".
It has been alleged that Vignesh, who was being treated at the hospital with serious injuries, was forcibly arrested and imprisoned by the police without a doctor’s discharge.
The Mayiladu district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has strongly condemned the incident.
The CPI(M) members, who approached the police station upon hearing about the incident, said that they were made to wait for four hours and were called for talks only after protests.
K Samuel Raj, CPI(M) state committee member and general secretary of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), said appropriate cases should be registered, those involved in planned caste-based attacks should be arrested and false cases against Dalit youths should be scrapped.
CPI(M) also demanded that action be taken against officials including Perambur police inspector Chandra and Panchayat leader Manikandan. The party has alleged that while the former was “working in support of the dominant castes”, the latter has been inciting hatred and discriminating on the basis of caste.
Samuel Raj said, “If the issue is sidelined, we will wage a big struggle until due action is initiated.”
The protest was called off after negotiations with the police officers and an assurance from the DSP that action will be taken in two days.
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