DINDIGUL: Ottanchatram police have booked a caste Hindu woman under sections of the SC/ST Act for allegedly refusing to rent out a flat to a person from Scheduled Caste (SC) community in Naiyakanur village. Police said the SC man, A Madurai Veeran of Arasapillaipatti village, approached caste Hindu couple Lakshmi and Velusamy on September 14 for renting a building flat owned by the couple.
"The couple took Madurai Veeran and two others who accompanied him to the flat, and were having a conversation when Lakshmi sought details of Madurai Veeran's community. When she learnt of his background, she refused to rent out the flat to him and claimed that her family deity would be offended if she did so," police said.
VCK district functionary Johnson Christopher, one of the two men who had accompanied Madurai Veeran, said the woman had told them that the flat wouldn't be given to persons from ST, Muslim and Christian backgrounds also. "Velusamy runs a vegetable wholesale stall at the Ottanchatram market. He has earned lakhs of rupees as profit owing to the labour of SC people, but his wife can't rent out a house to those from the community. This mindset has to first change," Christopher said.
Following a complaint from Madurai Veeran, Lakshmi has been booked under sections of the SC/ST Act. She was not at the house when police went there for inquiries and efforts are on to nab her. Meanwhile, a video conversation purported to be that of Lakshmi's is going viral on social media.