NAMAKKAL : Three people have been arrested for alleged caste discrimination after denying haircut to a nine-year-old boy at Thirumalaipatti village, near Rasipuram, on Wednesday. A case has been filed against the three under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. They are S Muthu (58), Rajesh (32) and Selvraj (33), all residents of Thirumalaipatti, said Mohanraj, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Rasipuram.
The boy belongs to a Scheduled Caste community. The hairdresser and two others who backed him have been arrested under the SC/ST POA Act and remanded, said police.
The matter came to light after Arunpandiyan (33), a Scheduled Caste man from the village filed a complaint stating that his son was denied haircut and discriminated against based on caste. A video of two people arguing with the hairdresser went viral on social media. “A video of a Caste Hindu barber arguing with two other youths spread on social media on Wednesday. The youths can be seen urging the barber to cut the hair of the child and not to discriminate against him on the basis of caste. They also said he is late for school. But the hairdresser refused and this led to an argument between them,” said police sources. The boy is a Class-3 student of a government school.