Advocates and Dalit activists on Saturday demanded the arrest of PMK founder S Ramadoss for his alleged hate speech against the Dalit community.
A petition to this effect was submitted to City Police Commissioner S George. Signed by advocate S Rajinikanth, the petition quoted Ramadoss as saying, “It was unsafe for non-Dalit women and girl students to cross through the settlement of Dalits. This affects the education of the girl students.” He was citing remarks Ramadoss made at a briefing here on November 17, in the wake of an attack on Dalit houses in Dharmapuri. Ramadoss was echoed by party MLA Kaduvetti J Guru.
This was a deliberate attempt to denigrate the entire Dalit community in the country, the petition said.
The petitioner observed that such remarks were aimed at provoking the non-Dalit communities against the Dalits and had hurt him and his Dalit community. Rajinikanth added that the speech was an offence committed under section 3(1)(10) of Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, 1989 and the deliberate attempts to breed hatred were to be considered as offences committed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 A, 505 (1)(b) and 505(2).
The petitioner also recalled the previous hate speeches by Ramadoss and Guru at a public meeting held in Mahabalipuram on May 5, for which a case was registered, but they were yet to be chargesheeted.