MADURAI: The Kottampatti Police, on Monday, registered a case against four caste Hindus under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, on charges of preventing a Dalit from taking a bath in a common water tank and allegedly assaulting him.
According to a police source, the accused include C Thangaraj (25), P Chinnathambi (40) and A Pandian, all from Lekkadaipatti village near Kottampatti, and K Alagarsamy (40) of Amman Kovilpatti village.
The injured P Saravanan (35) of Lekkadaipatti has been admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital, said the source.
A police source stated that the common tank in the village had a tap which the residents used for collecting water for drinking and other purposes. In the afternoon of April 16, Saravanan came to the tank to use the tap water for a bath. Motor operator Alagarsamy apparently asked Saravanan to leave saying he had been bathing for more than an hour. A heated exchange resulted, said the source. Following this, it is alleged that Chinnathambi, Thangaraj and Pandian assaulted him. Based on a complaint by Saravanan, the police registered a case against the four, including Alagarsamy, said the source.
In a separate incident, the Samayanallur police, on Monday, arrested a caste Hindu, R Viji alias Vijayakumar (27) of Pudukanmai village and registered a case against his mother R Chitra, under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly assaulting two Dalit women.
A police source said that Viji and S Mukammal (47) were neighbours. Mukammal was living with her sister T Bothumani. On Monday, Viji parked his two-wheeler close to Mukammal’s house. When he went to take his vehicle, Viji found some of the parts, including the indicator, damaged and felt that Mukammal’s house children might be the culprits.
Following this, an altercation broke out. It is alleged that Viji and Chitra pushed Bothumani. Mukammal lodged a police complaint.
In another incident, the Melur police arrested a 42-year-old caste Hindu on Monday, under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, for allegedly assaulting a 38-year-old Dalit. The police arrested A Manikandan of Thilagar Street, Melur, said a source in the police.
M Panjavanam of Subburaman Street, Melur, ran a meat shop on land owned by a caste Hindu on the Trichy-Madurai Main Road, said the source. On Monday, an inebriated Manikandan apparently went and parked himself close to Panjavanam’s shop. Panjavanam requested Manikandan to move away since women come to his shop and his (Manikandan’s) presence may impact business, said the source.
Irked by this, Manikandan reportedly spoke to him using abusive language and attacked him with the weighing machine. He said Panjavanam was running the shop on land belonging to a member of his community.