PERAMBALUR: Tensions prevailed at Sirukudal in Perambalur on Friday, after a group of caste Hindu youngsters allegedly forced five minor boys from a Dalit community to remove feces from public land at the village using their bare hands.
20-year-old Abinesh, 25-year-old Selvakumar and 24-year-old Silambarasan, all residents of Sirukudal village, were arrested by the police based on a complaint that they had forced five Dalit boys, aged between 11 to 15, to remove feces from public land in their village using their bare hands. The incident came to light after the boys complained about the incident to their parents.
"The five boys were defecating in an open field at their village. The three youth surrounded the boys and started abusing and hitting them. Then they forced the boys to remove their feces from the ground with their bare hands," said a police official investigating the case.
Police said that the accused made the boys use a gunny bag to transport the feces and forced them to walk 100 metres with the gunny bag on their heads and dispose of the waste near a canal.
On learning of the incident, the parents of the boys raised the issue with the police and VCK functionary Veera Sengolan, along with hundreds of party cadres, arrived at the spot and staged a road blockade. As information of the protest spread, Perambalur Additional Superintendent of Police AC Karthikeyan and Maruvathur police rushed to the village and questioned the villagers.
Karthikeyan told The New Indian Express that the three accused were arrested.
“They have been booked under various sections, including under provisions of the SC/ST Act, for abusing the boys. Further investigation is underway," he said.
The accused were produced before a judicial magistrate and sent to the Perambalur sub-jail.
The incident also brings to light the lack of toilets in the village despite the Swachh Bharat initiative. Villagers said while some affluent families had toilets, most of the others had to resort to open defecation.
In another horrific incident, earlier in July, a caste Hindu man in Dharmapuri district allegedly thrashed a Dalit boy who had defacated on his land, forced the child to eat the faeces before making him clear it with his bare hands. The man was arrested.