TIRUPUR: A Caste Hindu woman, who was responsible for a Dalit family of four being forced to fall at the feet of village panchayat members, committed suicide at Kangeyam late on Saturday night. The woman’s daughter filed a complaint against three members of the Dalit family and a few others for abetment to suicide.
Earlier this month, Saraswathy, known as Sarasu, of Theethampalayam near Kangeyam, confronted neighbour and farmer Devi (40) for letting the latter’s goat stray into her farm. Devi apologised and assured Sarasu that the incident would not happen again. However, Devi and her family — husband Sakthivel (45), daughter Malarvizhi (19) and Satheesh Kumar (18) — were brought in front of the village panchayat soon after over the same issue. Sarasu had complained that Malarvizhi had behaved rudely, when she visited their house.
Malarvizhi was told to fall at everyone’s feet in apology or pay a fine of Rs 5,000 instead. When Devi tried to do it on her daughter’s behalf, she was allegedly attacked. So was her son, when he tried to intervene.
Eventually, all the four fell at everyone’s feet to be able to get away. The family then filed a petition with the Collector, seeking protection from the Caste Hindus, who had ganged up against them. They also filed a complaint at Kangeyam police station against Sarasu and a few others from Shanmugampalyam. A case was registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against them. However, all five mentioned in the case had obtained anticipatory bail.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, Sarasu committed suicide. She was found hanging from the ceiling in her house the next morning. Tamilselvi, Sarasu’s daugther, blamed Devi and her family for the death. She claimed that Devi, her husband and son, had demanded that Sarau pay them Rs 10 lakh to withdraw the case and threatened her too. Tamilselvi said that she and her mother had discussed the issue only on Saturday morning, when she had advised her mother to file a complaint against the family.
Tamilselvi filed a complaint against Devi, her husband and son, and four other (VP Kumar, Prawin, Kavin and Moorthy), who had instigated the family to demand money. Kangeyam police began preliminary investigation.According to senior police officials, though the complaint had been given against Devi’s family, they can take action only after a thorough investigation.