VILLUPURAM: Tension gripped Aasur village near Tindivanam on Monday night after Caste Hindus and Dalits clashed and pelted stones at each other after a Caste Hindu girl reportedly eloped with a Dalit youth, on Monday night.
Sources said the clash was fuelled by the love affair between S Jaakis (22), a Dalit youth, and M Subhulakshmi (19) a Caste Hindu girl, who went missing two days back.
Jaakis, who was working in a private firm in Chennai, fell in love with Subhulakshmi two years ago. Subhulakshmi was doing her second year diploma in a polytechnic college in Vellore. Her family came to know about this, and got so angry that they forcibly fixed her wedding with another man from their community. But, before the wedding could take place, Subhulakshmi’s father Muthu came to know on Monday that the couple had registered their marriage and were staying in the house of Jaakis’ friend in Chennai.
Hearing the news, about 50 of Subhulakshmi’s relatives rushed to the house of Jaakis’ parents in Aasur and damaged their house and two of their relatives’ houses as well.
Enraged by this, the Dalit residents in the area started attacking the caste Hindus, resulting in a clash where both sides hurled stones at each other, causing injuries to people from the two castes.
On receiving information, more than 300 police personnel were sent to Aasur village for protection in order to avert any further untoward incidents.
Tindivanam police registered a case and further investigations are on. Villupuram district is known to have one of the highest Dalit population in Tamil Nadu.