THOOTHUJUDI: A day after a 60-year-old shepherd from a Scheduled Caste community lodged a complaint against seven caste Hindus for allegedly forcing him to prostrate before one of them, Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police (SP) S Jeyakumar visited the victim's house in Olaikulam village and promised protection for his family.
Meanwhile, Kayathar police booked eight persons under various sections of the SC/ST Act and arrested seven of them.
On October 8, a lamb from the complainant A Palraj's herd got separated and mixed with the herd of 60-year-old Sivasangu, a member of a caste Hindu community in the same village. This led to an altercation and Sivasangu allegedly hurled casteist slurs at Palraj. He and his relatives are alleged to have also attacked Palraj and made him prostrate before Sivasangu. The group also made a video of the incident and shared it on social media.
Acting on Palraj's complaint, the Kayathar police registered an FIR against eight people -- Sivasangu (60), S Sangilipandi (19), S Udayammal (33), S Periyamari (47), S Veeraiah (42), P Mahendran (20), S Maharajan (24), and K Arun Karthick (21) under IPC sections 147, 294(b), 323, 506(ii) read with sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), 3(2)(5a) of the SC/ST ACT, 2015, and Section 66(A) of the IT ACT. Except for Udayammal, a woman, the others were arrested and remanded.
Visiting Palraj’s house, the SP said that police had found that a dispute had escalated into an altercation, and the suspects made the man fall at his feet. He termed the act as “uncivilised and unlawful” and against the Constitution.
“It cannot be tolerated in society,” he added. Stating that seven men, including those who filmed the elderly man prostrating himself, were booked and arrested, the SP said police security was beefed up in the village to prevent any untoward incident.