A caste Hindu group ransacked houses of Dalits after a caste Hindu girl and a Dalit boy eloped together, at Melmangalam village in Theni district on Sunday. Seven houses were set on fire and five Dalits were injured in the attack.
The police registered cases against the offenders and arrested 15 of them. As many as 250 policemen were deployed to control the situation. A peace committee meeting was conducted with the participation of both parties, who reportedly agreed to settle the issue amicably.
B Suresh (25) of Melmangalam near Periyakulam belongs to the Dalit community; he fell in love with a caste Hindu girl, S Muthulakshmi (23), also from the same locality. The girl’s parents opposed the affair but the couple eloped from the village a week ago.
There were more than 6,000 caste Hindus and fewer than 100 Dalit families living in the village.
Fearing for their lives, Suresh’s family left the village and went into hiding. The caste Hindus held a kangaroo court and demanded that the Dalits find the girl and hand her over to them.
According to police sources, a ‘drunken’ Dalit youth provoked some caste Hindus on Sunday, saying they could do nothing after Suresh ran away with their girl.
The Dalits expected the attack and hid inside their houses or fled the village. On Sunday night, more than 100 people from the caste Hindu community attacked the Dalits who lived near the Kalkattu Bus stop and Kizhakku Colony areas.
They destroyed 11 houses and injured a few Dalits who were in sight. Caste Hindu men attacked first, and then women from their community set fire to the houses, said a 36-year-old Dalit man, who added that the attackers did not stop even when Dalits begged them to leave.
“I, along with fifteen people including infants, hid inside my old house for more than one-and-a-half hours. As the fire spread, the fumes came into our hiding place. The children could not breathe, so I had to come out to save them,” said a 38-year-old victim of burn injuries.
The police allegedly reached the spot more than an hour later. Even after taking stock of the situation, they failed to act, said another Dalit man.
Five people who were injured in the attack were taken to Theni Government Medical College Hospital for treatment. Though more than 100 people were inolved in the attack, police registered cases against fewer than half the number and arrested 15 of them, he added.
R Sethu, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Periyakulam range), said that the situation was under control in the village, as both sides wanted to settle the issue amicably.