MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday sought an action taken report from the Tamil Nadu government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a CBI probe in the case registered over human faeces being found in an overhead tank that supplied water to Scheduled Caste residents in Vengaivayal village of Pudukkottai district.
The litigant, P Thirumurugan of Pudukkottai, submitted that nearly 100 families belonging to the SC community live in Vengaivayal and the overhead tank, which has a capacity of 10,000 litres, was built to cater to their drinking water needs. "In December last year, many residents of the village complained of sickness due to water contamination and got admitted to the local hospital. When the villagers inspected the tank, they found human faeces floating in the water, following which Vellanoor police registered a case," he added.
Thirumurugan claimed that the SC people of the village were facing caste atrocities at the hands of the dominant caste for an extended period in various forms like denial of entry into the Ayyanar temple of the village and the double-tumbler system in tea shops.
Though the CB-CID is presently investigating the case, there has been no breakthrough in the case for the past two months and the authorities have failed to bring the culprits to justice, he alleged. As per Rule 7 of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995, the investigation officer should have completed the investigation within 30 days, but the same has not been followed, he added and requested the court to transfer the case to CBI.
A Bench of justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri, who heard the plea, directed the additional advocate general to file a report on the actions so far taken by the state government in the matter. The case was adjourned to March 30.