Disproving the claims of caste Hindus in Vadugapatti village, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) director D Venkatesan confirmed that the Dalit boy was humiliated by caste Hindus in the village.
“It is true that caste Hindus had forced the Dalit boy to walk through the street carrying his footwear on his head,” the director told reporters on Tuesday after talks with the Class VI boy in Kallar Government Higher Secondary School.
Venkatesan, who also held a separate inquiry with his mother Nagammal at her house, informed the district administration that police had taken appropriate action on this issue.
“Though my son attended school on Tuesday, he is yet to overcome the mental agony”, Nagammal said, claiming that the NCSC team had assured her that if Arun Kumar felt uncomfortable in going to the government school, they would help him find admission in another institution.
Earlier when Venkatesan and NSCS investigator A Iniyan inquired with school headmistress Rajeshwari whether she was present at the school when the incident took place, she replied that it had happened during the vacation. “After I put up the annual results on the school notice board, I didn’t come to the school,” said Rajeshwari. She said the boy had come to the the school to check his result during the vacations.
When the NSCS team emerged out of the school premises, caste Hindus gathered near the village temple and surrounded them. When Vadugapatti panchayat president M Thavam claimed that caste discrimination was not taking place in the village, the team members told the president that he should take steps to restore normalcy in the hamlet.
During an interaction Dalits complained to the NSCS members that they were not getting proper drinking water and the graveyard for Dalits also lacked facilities like cremation shed and other things.
Dalits pressured
The caste Hindus of Vadugapatti had allegedly threatened the Dalits not to reveal the issue of caste discrimination to NCSC members.
After the caste Hindus learned from the revenue officials that NCSC members would conduct inquiry on the Dalit boy episode on Tuesday, they immediately summoned the elders from the Dalit community for a meeting in the night. “They ordered us not to reveal the caste discrimination practiced in the village to the NCSC members,” said an elderly Dalit who attended the meeting.
Even during the meeting, the dominance of caste Hindus was evident, Dalits alleged. “In the meeting, the caste Hindus were seated in an elevated place, while we were forced to sit on the floor,” said the Dalit on request of anonymity.
It was also alleged that when the NCSC members were conducting the inquiry with the Dalits, the caste Hindu members spied on those who complained.
