MADURAI: Tension prevailed at S Melapatti after two groups of people -- belonging to two different communities -- resorted to a standoff following an argument that began after one group demanded the removal of a VCK flag on a parcel of land. The district administration was trying to broker a peace deal between two groups of residents on Tuesday.
VCK Madurai South District Secretary VP Inkubal claimed that the party flag post is located on a poramboke land near a house at S Melapatti near Peraiyur. When the party cadre attempted to hoist a VCK flag on Monday during the birthday celebrations of the party's leader, the house owner and his family members objected.
Inkubal alleged that the house owner, accompanied by members of his community, was now staking claim on a one-cent parcel of land where a temple and a well is located. Dalits had been offering worship at this temple for years, he added. The VCK functionary said the parcel of land where the temple stood did not belong the house owner.
Trying to find a solution to the dispute, officials from the district administration have started measuring the property. Meanwhile, the Peraiyur police registered two separate cases -- one against 75 people, including VCK cadre, for assembling during lockdown, and the other against 105 people, who assembled and demanded the removal of the party flag. The cases were booked under IPC sections 143, 188, 269 of the IPC, 134 of the TNPH Act, and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act. A posse of police personnel was also deployed to the area.