KANNIYAKUMARI: Demanding an Assembly constituency to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) in the district, members of the Tamil Nadu Dalit Rights Protection Movement started a march (padayatra) from Kanniyakumari to Chennai on Tuesday. However, 47 members of the outfit who took part in the march were arrested for starting the procession without permission.
According to an earlier announcement, the Dalit outfit, led by its founder president Vai Dinakaran, began the march from Gandhi Mandapam to the secretariat. Around 11.45 pm, the Kanniyakumari police stopped the march, and arrested the members. They were released after 6 pm, sources said.
Speaking to TNIE, Vai Dinakaran said neither the Election Commission nor the state governments over the years had taken steps to realise their long-pending demand for an Assembly constituency reserved for SCs in the district.
"As we had planned to pass through all the district headquarters, mostly via state highways, we had sought permission from the police in the respective districts two weeks ago. However, we were informed that the permission was denied only by Monday," he said.
Dinakaran also wondered why the police prevented them from conducting the march, while political parties had been allowed to organise similar marches across the state. "The arrest of our members has instilled a sense of fear, but we will not give up our protest," he said, urging the government to pass a resolution in this regard.
When contacted, a senior police official said that since the march was planned to pass through multiple districts, permission could be granted only by the state police headquarters and not the district police.