MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently directed the Virudhunagar district collector to constitute a committee to inquire and file a report on a PIL filed by a man claiming he and his family were excommunicated on charges of drawing excess water to his shop. The petitioner A Muthupalam, a BC (Hindu Nadar) community member, said he had taken three shops at a shopping complex on rent. The complex located in Kamarajar Nagar of Rajapalayam is owned by the Rajapalayam Hindu Nadar Uravinmurai Society.
Muthupalam gave a letter to the society on July 2 last year seeking a permit to use water from a borewell nearby. However, the society conducted an executive committee meeting the next day and blamed Muthupalam for using the water until then. They asked him to pay a fine and tender an oral apology during a panchayat meeting.
"One Ravi, who has personal enmity against me, persuaded the panchayat authorities to ask me to vacate the shops. But, I refused to leave the shops. In this situation, Ravi along with Kalidoss and Ramesh conducted katta panchayats and decided to shut down the shops. They illegally entered and ransacked the shops. They also stole many valuables from there. I filed a complaint about this at North Police Station in Rajapalayam. Subsequently, they excommunicated me and my family. The trio also orally directed the Nadar Uravimurai community people to not allow my family into the temple here. When I went to the temple with my family, we were asked to bow to their feet and pay a fine," the petitioner said.
Justice D Nagarjun said Muthupalam's grievances include excommunication, forcible eviction, and destruction of his belongings. A probe is underway into the complaint of destruction of belongings, and the petitioner has to approach the appropriate court concerning the forcible eviction complaint, the judge said and added that his court will examine the excommunication issue.
"It is surprising to note that in this era, a katta panchayat was conducted and a fine was imposed on a person. The police have to conduct an inquiry into the aspects of excommunication. It is very difficult to digest that a person is socially boycotted on a simple allegation that he drew excess water to his shop. There is no law, statute, procedure or by-law, under which an amount of Rs 15,000 can be imposed for this claim," the court said before directing the district collector to constitute a committee comprising officers like District Revenue Officer, Revenue Divisional Officer, Additional Superintendent of Police and others, to inquire into the excommunication complaint and file a report before this court by October 31.