A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai accusing Ramanathapuram police of harassing Dalits in the guise of investigating two murder cases registered during the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations on October 30.
A. Murugan, an advocate here, had filed the case with a plea to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder cases pending with the Emaneswaram and Paramakudi Town police besides a direction to the State to compensate the innocent Dalits.
The petitioner claimed that the two murder cases were the result of the police’s failure to prevent a group of Caste Hindus, proceeding towards Thevar memorial in Pasumpon, from entering areas inhabited by Dalits and causing a ruckus over there in an inebriated mood.
“I state that members of Dalit community in that area never thought of annihilating people entering in that area. But the highhanded and mischievous way of entering and proceeding by the violators invited trouble… The Dalits only made an attempt to chase them away,” the petitioner’s affidavit read.
It also accused a section of the police force of acting against the interests of the Dalits on the instructions of Caste Hindus belonging to the ruling party.
Therefore, “the investigation conducted by the Tamil Nadu police in the two murder cases will only result in adding fuel to fire,” the petitioner said in the public interest litigation.
