DHARMAPURI: Six members of a caste Hindu family in Veppamarathur near Bommidi attempted suicide on Monday night, allegedly holding one of their relatives responsible because the temple festival in the village has not been conducted since 2013. They are admitted to the Dharmapuri GH and are out of danger, police said.
As per sources, G Suresh (41) married Sudha from Harur in 2010. The villagers came to know that Sudha belonged to Scheduled Caste, following which they allegedly ostracised Suresh’s family and prevented him from taking part in social events in the village. Sudha lodged a complaint against 22 people from Veppamarathur and they were booked under SC/ ST Act in 2013. The Dharmapuri district session’s court acquitted all 22 people in September 2022. Sudha has gone on an appeal against the verdict before the Madras High Court.
Suresh told TNIE, “Villagers had planned to conduct the annual Muthu Mariyamman temple festival on June 27 and 28, for the first time since 2013 after the verdict. But, they did not collect money for the festival from my family and didn’t allow us to take part in the festival.” On Sunday, Suresh informed about this to revenue department officials, who in turn informed Bommidi police. On Monday, police invited Suresh and the other villagers to discuss the issue, but the villagers allegedly refused to compromise on the matter.
Late on Monday night, M Ramu (35), H Alamelu (36), A Vijaya Lakshmi (23), R Amudha (36), M Kavitha (38) and M Thenmozhi (33), were taken to Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital for treatment, after they allegedly attempted suicide.
Ramu told TNIE, “Suresh is our relative and we didn’t discriminate him or his family based on caste. His family had taken a loan of around Rs 10-15 lakh from the villagers and when they approached him to recover the loan, his wife falsely implicated SC/ST Act on the people and accused us of caste discrimination.”
“We couldn’t conduct the festival due to the court case and when we finally got the chance to conduct the festival, he is objecting to the festival and the police and authorities are supporting him as well. Hence, we tried to die by suicide,” she said. Suresh denied that his family had taken loan from the villagers and said that the issue of money only arose in mid-2013 after the caste of his wife was revealed. On Tuesday afternoon, Dharmapuri Tahsildar P Jeyaseelan and Boomidi police held peace meeting with both the parties and said that Suresh’s family will take part in the festival.
(To overcome suicidal thoughts, contact State helpline 104)