A group of Dalits belonging to Arunthathiyar community from Nathapatti in Kovilangulam panchayat here petitioned Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao on Monday alleging that they have been denied burial rights on a land along the roadside, which was traditionally being used by the community for burial and cremation.
According to the petitioners, the issue started earlier this year when a caste Hindu bought a piece of land near the site and subsequently opposed the Dalits from burying or cremating bodies there by claiming that it was a poramboke land.
“He says that since he owns a property, he gets the right to use the poramboke land adjacent to it,” said A. Agniraj, one of the petitioners.
A. Pavunraj, another petitioner, said that though there were around 100 Arunthathiyar families in the village, they did not have a proper burial site unlike the caste Hindus.
“The caste Hindus have a proper place for burial and cremation with sheds erected. However, we have been using this small piece of land outside the village, closer to the Madurai-Theni highway for the past many generations,” he said.
He alleged that the person who bought the property near the site even approached the officials in the panchayat union, who in turn asked the Dalit community to stop using the place as burial site till the issue is resolved.
When contacted, a senior revenue official said that the Revenue Divisional Officer of Usilampatti had ordered for a detailed enquiry by Tahsildar regarding the issue. “If any person is encroaching on the burial site, the encroachment will be evicted and the burial right for Dalits will be ensured,” the official said.
However, the petitioners said that though the enquiry was ordered in April this year, no action had been taken yet to resolve the issue. “We want a permanent solution. Let them allocate this place or some other place near the village. But we want the officials to make necessary changes in the revenue records so that we do not face similar problems in the future,” Mr. Agniraj said.
Stating that issues regarding burial rights for Dalits existed in several villages, C. Perarivalan, a functionary of Tamil Puligal movement, who led the team of petitioners, urged the district administration to take a survey throughout the district and address all such issues at the earliest.
