KRISHNAGIRI: When respect is denied to the living, one has to be naive to expect that it would be paid to the dead. And, the SC community members of Jakkeri near Denkanikottai are not naive. When G Venkataramanapa (65) of Jakkeri succumbed to health issues on Tuesday afternoon, his community people were afraid that the funeral procession would not be allowed pass through the caste Hindu people's farmland. This fear was based on their past experience.
What was the past experience?
Jakkeri is a small village in Denkanikottai. The village has 175 families, including 50 SC, 40 ST and 75 caste Hindu families.
The SC families have to pass through the farmland of H Narayanappa (63), a caste Hindu, to reach their cremation ground. Until 2015, the SC and ST people used to carry bodies to graveyard through Narayanappa's farmland. However, in 2015, Narayanappa allegedly denied passage to SC families for funeral processions. Later, S Manjunath (38), another caste Hindu, allowed them to pass through his farmland.
Cut to 2020, Manjunath has denied permission to the SC people to pass through his farmland. Sources said that Manjunath denied permission after a fight with Narayanappa.
Following his refusal, the villagers requested the revenue and police officials to intervene.
How the help came in?
On Tuesday, Denkanikottai Tahsildar Ramachandran received a petition from the villagers to help them resolve the issue. Then the tahsildar spoke to a few caste Hindus and asked them to allow the procession to pass their land and assured them to he would speak about the issue within two days. On Wednesday afternoon, Narayanappa allowed the body to pass through his farmland. Later, under the supervision of police, the body was taken to the graveyard.
Ramachandran assured that he would summon both the caste Hindus and check land details. He said, "Another SC person C Muniraj (62) of the same village died at Veppanahalli on Wednesday afternoon. The officials will make sure that his body passes through the patta land without any issue and his last rites are being performed with full respect."