Panel begins probe into caste slur case
Madurai: The National Commission for SC/ST commenced its enquiry into the incident wherein a dalit child was forced to carry his footwear on his head by a caste Hindu at Vadugapatti, in Madurai district.
Commission director D. Venkatesan and investigation officer Iniyan visited Vadugapatti village in the caste-sensitive Usilampatti block on Tuesday and held enquiries. Spending almost half-a-day in the village, they interacted with the dalits and lent an ear to the caste Hindus for their version of the humiliation meted out to dalit boy Arun Kumar (12).
The incident came to light after Nagammal, a single mother, in her complaint said her son Arun Kumar and two other dalit boys had gone to the government high school on June 3 to check the class VI examination results, going through the locality of caste Hindus.
When the boys were returning, P. Nilamaalai, a caste Hindu youth, irked on seeing Arun walking with footwear, stopped him while letting the other two barefooted boys go. He abused the boy for daring to defy the village diktat that dalits should walk barefoot inside the village and made derogatory remarks.
Nilamaalai forced him to carry the slippers on his head until he reached the other end of the village. Finding her son depressed, Nagammal learnt of the incident. Though threatened with dire consequences for questioning Nilamaalai, she lodged a complaint with the police who later arrested him along with his father Pathivuraja and brother Agni.
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