COIMBATORE: A man and his wife were booked under the SC/ST Act after they were accused of throwing diluted calcium oxide (quicklime) on the face of a Dalit woman and abusing her using her caste name.
Police said the accused identified as Arusamy (49) and his wife Kanagavalli, residing in Senniappa Nagar, Subbegounden Pudur, Pollachi, shared a compound wall with their neighbour, Muniappan and his wife, Easwari. While the Arusamys belonged to some other caste, the Muniappans were from the dalit community.
On Monday, Arusamy had employed a group of workers to whitewash the compound wall. Eswari, who is a daily wage laborer, had told Arusamy to only whitewash his side of the wall and not theirs.
Enraged by the statement of the dalit neighbour, Arusamy and Kanagavalli, allegedly picked up a bucket of diluted quicklime water and threw it on the face of Eswari. They had also abused the dalit woman by making derogatory remarks against her caste.
Based on a complaint lodged by Eswari with the Anaimalai police registered a case and arrested Arusamy.
Anaimalai police said, “The two families had been having regular altercations over various issues. It is believed that this was not the first time that the accused had resorted to using expletives and derogatory remarks against the complainant’s caste.”