Tension prevailed in Sindhupatti police station near Usilampatti after Thummakundu villagers belonging to a dominant caste laid siege to the police station on Saturday. During the recent celebrations of a local temple, the Dalits in Thummakundu were prevented by the members of the dominant caste from immersing their ‘molapparis’ in the village pond. This incident led to caste conflict in the village, but it was later resolved by the intervention of Usilampatti RDO S Shanthi.Meanwhile, on Saturday, members of Untouchability Eradication Front along with some CPM functionaries reportedly went to the village to inquire about the incident, but the members of a dominant caste allegedly prevented them.
M Thangarasu, district secretary of Untouchability Abolition Front in Tamil Nadu, who also accompanied the CPM functionaries, immediately lodged a complaint with Sindhupatti police station against five villagers - Ramar, Chakravarthy, Karthik, Deeparaja and Vinoth. Following this, the police visited the village on Saturday night and allegedly woke up the women sleeping in their houses and asked details about their husbands. Irked by the police action, the villagers laid siege to the police station.On information, Tahsildar Rajendran, Revenue Inspector Gunasekaran and Tirumangalam DSP Ravichandran held talks with the villagers and resolved the issue.
CPM Condemns
CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan has condemned the attack on CPM functionaries at Thummakundu and urged the State government to take stringent action against those who attempted to assault them.