Tension gripped Papparapatti village in Dharmapuri district here on Monday after hundreds of residents of the village took to the streets in protest after a Dalit man allegedly misbehaved with a caste Hindu woman.
Police said Mathalingam, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Papparapatti, went to a shop around 7.30 pm on Sunday in a drunken state to purchase a recharge card. Managing the shop was Sangeetha, wife of Ramu.
When she was busy picking a recharge coupon of the right denomination, Ramu allegedly misbehaved with her.
Sangeetha immediately raised a cry for help. On hearing her cries, a woman from the adjacent shop rushed in to her help, but the man escaped from the scene. Ramu, Sangeetha’s husband, lodged a complaint with Papparapatti Police and a case was registered against Mathalingam under Section 354 of IPC and Section 4 of the Women Harassment Act.
As the news spread, hundreds of caste Hindu villagers laid a siege to the police station and later staged a road blockade demanding immediate steps to arrest Mathalingam.
Tension prevailed as the issue threatened to snowball into a communal clash between the Caste Hindus and Dalit communities.
Not taking any chances, a strong contingent of police was deployed in several places in Papparapatti and its surroundings as a precautionary measure. All shops remained close in that area.