TENKASI: A day after two people were arrested for refusing to sell snacks to schoolchildren belonging to Scheduled Caste community, Inspector General (South Zone) Asra Garg has initiated steps to invoke externment provisions under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the accused to bar them from entering Panjakulam village near Sankarankovil in Tenkasi district.
If the decision to invoke Section 10 of the SC/ST Act is approved by the special court set up to handle cases under the Act, the accused can be stopped from entering the village for up to three years. On Saturday, the Karivalamvanthanallur police had arrested shopkeeper Maheswaran and village chief Ramachandran under various sections after a video went viral on social media.
Asra Garg said the decision to invoke externment provisions was taken considering the gravity of the offence in the present case and a related one registered in 2020. Meanwhile, Tenkasi District Adi Dravidar Welfare Officer inspected the Panjakulam government primary school on Sunday and submitted a report to District Collector P Akash saying that students were not discriminated based on caste on the school premises. According to sources, the district administration has planned to hold a peace meeting in the village to douse the tension between caste Hindus and members of the SC community.