The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : `Dalits in Keeripatti still remain ostracised'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 05, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

`Dalits in Keeripatti still remain ostracised'

J.V. Siva Prasanna Kumar

Inquiry prejudiced, says Joint Action Committee

MADURAI: About 15 Dalit families at Keeripatti in Usalimpatti taluk of Madurai district continue to be ostracised by the caste Hindus, and revenue officials' effort to set right the problem is only an `eyewash,' said the Joint Action Committee against Untouchability.

Speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday, Henri Tiphagne, executive director, Peoples' Watch, and Rajni, an advocate, said the inquiry by revenue officials into the atrocities perpetrated on the Dalits was "prejudiced" and did not mitigate their condition.

A section of the Dalits, who related their experience, said 15 families who had voted against a common candidate fielded by the village elders were being prevented from buying groceries, boarding buses or even using the sanitary complex constructed for them.

They were denied employment by the caste Hindus. As a result, they found it difficult to obtain provisions or get a job to run their families.

They demanded that the ostracised families be given food and social security. They were spending sleepless nights, as they were intimidated. Miscreants threw stones at their houses under the cover of darkness.

The April 19 by-election was a nightmarish experience to them. If this trend continued, the lot of the Dalits would be doomed forever, they said.

Mr. Henri Tiphagne and Ms. Rajni said there was a gross violation of the Scheduled Caste\Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the village.

The Dalits were even prevented from exercising their franchise on April 19 and demanded that the officials strictly enforce the SC\ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and initiate action against those who were behind the violence.

The police were "indifferent" to the plight of the Dalits. "If the authorities did not take action, we would seek legal remedy under Section 4 of the IPC (wilful negligence of duty by executive and police)," Mr. Henri said.

The JAC has planned to hold a human chain agitation in the city on May 11 to highlight the problems of the Dalits. The JAC, comprising more than 13 organisations, including the Dalit Panthers of India, would hold a public hearing on the atrocities against the Dalits in June.

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