Over 260 houses torched, police arrest 90 persons
Three colonies of Dalits (of the Adi-Dravida community) near Naikkankottai in Dharmapuri district of western Tamil Nadu remained benumbed on Thursday by the fury unleashed on them by a rampaging mob of caste Hindus on Wednesday.
As many as 268 dwellings – huts, tiled-roof and one or two-room concrete houses – were torched by the mob after a caste Hindu man, Nagarajan, committed suicide over his daughter marrying a Dalit boy from one of the colonies. Police said there was no casualty as occupants of the houses escaped and took shelter in another village. Ninety persons were arrested by Thursday evening and cases registered against another 500 “unidentified” persons.
The prime target of the attack was Natham Colony, whose resident, Ilavarasan (23) had married N. Divya (20), a caste Hindu. But, the mob’s fury was also directed at the adjoining Anna Nagar Colony and Kondampatti Old and New Colonies.
It is said that Ilavarasan and Divya got married in a temple a month ago. Fearing attack by caste Hindus, the couple approached the Deputy Inspector of General of Police, Salem Range, Sanjay Kumar, only a week ago for protection. Though the police assured them safety, a kangaroo court directed Ilavarasan’s family to return the girl on Wednesday. The girl refused to go with her father, who later hanged himself at his house in Sellankottai, just half a km from the Dalit colonies. And then, the mobs went on the rampage.
According to police, one group of incensed members of his community protested on the Dharmapuri-Tiruppattur Road, blocking traffic with the trees they felled as well as with boulders and signboards. At the same time, another group entered the Dalit colonies and set ablaze the dwellings. The Dalits alleged that their houses were looted and the valuables taken away. The attack started around 4.45 p.m. and went on till 7 p.m. Police reinforcements and fire tenders could not reach the spot in time because of the hurdles placed on the road leading to the colonies. Some vehicles of the Dalits too were torched. The mob fled when police reinforcements arrived.
Superintendent of Police, Krishnagiri, M. Ashok Kumar, reached the spot and took control of the situation, as Dharmapuri’s SP Asra Garg was away in Madurai. Mr. Garg, however, reached the spot at night.
Police personnel drawn from five districts restored order. Fire tenders put out the blaze in the colonies and recovery vans were deployed to clear the road blocks.
A core police team headed by Mr. Sanjay Kumar worked out strategies to keep the situation under control. Inspector-General of Police (West Zone), visited the colonies on Thursday and supervised the security arrangements and the investigation into the attack. Police said Ilavarasan and Divya were safe and under police protection.
After spending the night in shock, fear and without shelter, close to 1,500 Dalits were on Thursday accommodated in Government schools.
District Collector R. Lilly visited the affected persons and ordered relief for them.
Keywords: inter-caste marriage, social tensions, Dharmapuri violence
History of clashes, inter religion and intra religion are common in
india and elsewhere in the world. At this juncture in india, where it
has been sensitized, The less we delve into it the better, for
promoting tolerance and equal status for all religions/castes. The
Reservation/Quota keeps the issues alive between religions/casts in
india, kept alive to derive/milk political benefits, constantly
reminding every one, on every government issued
forms/applications/appointments /schools/colleges etc., and
replacing/blotting out MERIT which is the paramount prerequisite
than the caste/religion. Reservation/quota and Equality cannot coexist
or be juxtaposed. If attempted , then SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
becomes the axiom. the ways and means/methods adopted so far are
absurd and rewards bifurcation and lures to stay bifurcated. In the
absence of all forms of reservation & quota,Time and proper education
would have blurred discrimination, out of existence .
Few people gave credit to Periyar along with Mahatma Gandhi and National
poet Bharathi. In my point of view, Periyar is only against Brahmins and
nothing to do with caste conflict between OBC and Dalits.
We have to hang our heads in shame that the disease of casteism still plagues our society. The only thing that can deter similar events in the future is the strictest possible punishment to the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
Caste differences has been used by the political parties only to get votes. Otherwise, why will they not support implementation of creamy layer non-eligibility for reservation in Tamilnadu? Caste based discrimination in Tamilnadu is now typically practiced by the OBCs on Dalits. The political parties do not want the socio-economic differences to be minimized as it affects their vote bank.
Rajan, do not link this idiotic incident to justify your views. Every one, elites or otherwise, is
practising caste. Some groups hide, some others show up shamelessly. Caste is
predominant everywhere, jobs, education, marriages in particular. Keralites are the most
caste sensitive state. Every politician shamelessly flaunts his caste name In our country.
Tamil Nadu is one percent better, here, caste is flaunted in body and face, at least not as a
surname. Given a choice, I suggest that village should be deprived of power, public transport
etc. Govt cannot change people as its very foundation is caste votes.
Shame Shame to TAMILNADU...ESPECIALLY THE C.M. WHO claims that She is going to take the State to the NEXT Level...
It is unacceptable for the mob to attack section of deprived community.
I want every single of them need to treated and getting their assets and
wealth back. Making sure no more cast division is going to happen among
them.
It is very clear that police force have miserably failed and they were unable to sense the situation. The govt and police must have took and sensed the leaders of vanniyar sangam Mr Kaduvetti guru,Mr.pazha.Karuppaiah.ADMK and Gounder leaders speech that inter caste marriage will never be accepted and allowed what does it mean is it not a challenge to the constituition the government and law and order of the state.What action did the police take? The incident have happened even after the matter was reported to the top most police.now they are giving police protection for whom and for what?The entire law and order was at hands of the miscreants.
It is a brutal act which deserve open determental punishment.Unfortunately law of
the land does"nt permit.Further justice delayed justice denied in all this sort of
caseses.If a fellow human being is not properly treated who is created in the image
of GOD how can they worship GOD.It is a shamefull act.
Moral Education and love for humanity is the only disinfectant available
to get rid of this rueful practice of the caste system.
Who are these 'Caste Hindus'? When we can say the caste of victims, can't we spell out the caste of the attackers? How cowardly can we be?!
The education is not at all improving the mentality of the people, at least in Dharmapuri region. I am from Dharmapuri and appalled by the way the teachers talked to me about caste and dowry when I had a personal chat with them. I started doubting whether the teachers are the ones spreading the caste bias instead of eliminating them. If education is the move forward to tackle the issues, teacher training institutes should teach the broad perspectives to future teachers first. Schools in Dharmapuri district are money running machines rather than education institutions. Some of the schools ask more fees than elite schools in Chennai region. I realised this only after joining CEG, even though I paid hefty sum as school fees. Parents in the region are desperate to make their wards educated since no other job opportunities available in the region. Education institutes just milking them and spoon fed the students rather than educate them. Caste bias should be removed in grass root level.
The Hindu cannot even tell what the caste names are. Do you want to
protect your dravidian party funders? This is the most intellectually
dishonest paper ever.
Our country encourages discrimination by giving reservation based on caste. Uplift the economically backward of all sections and give good education. Teach them skills to overcome poverty. Skills will be more valued than just plain education. In cities caste discrimination is much less. When successive government is interested in vote bank politics and would like status quo what could a common man do?It only keeps them separate.
Its time the govt stopped re-iterating the cast system in census and
reservation. We rather need to move towards a system which provides
assistance through opportunity bench marks. Also the movie industry
needs to stop glorying moral policing.
All those who are involved in the heinous crime must be swiftly apprehenced by the police and brought to justice by a one time special court to be set up solely for the purpose of speedy trial and must be given the harshest punishment so that this incident becomes the last case of caste related violence in TN.The Government should ensure protection to the lives of the young couple who are majors to decide who each should marry. The government should immediately launch measures to rebuild the homes destroyed in this mass madness, and recover the cost thereof from the perpetrators of the crime. If the culprits do not have the monetary resources, their other material belongings should be confiscated by the State. If needed, a special ordinance be passed by the state for this purpose.To supplement these measures, the newspapers and magazines should stop accepting/ publishing matrimonial advertisements that bear the caste names in any part of the adversiements.Will The Hindu take the lead?
Shocking incident. The 2 families should have sorted out the issue by
themselves. Thankfully none died or else we would have 1950 enacted all
over again with Dalit-BC/MBC riots. Goes to show how much anti-dalit
mentality the OBC/BC/MBC people have. DK,DMK, ADMK deliberately refused
to address this crucial issue because of their own vote bank politics.
ADMK being heavily supported by Thevar/NAdars etc. DMK relied heavily on
Vanniyar belt. Ambedkar and Bharathi would be fuming with so much anger
now.
Shameful that such incidents still occur.
But what is a "caste Hindu". Are we coy about mentioning actual
castes? Especially given that we are endlessly parsing the definitions
of backward castes in our country.
Perhaps the term "backward" needs to be applied not to birth but to
attitudes.
This incident and hundreds of similar ones brings out the essence of what needs to be fixed
in Hinduism. Isn't discrimination based on caste morally appalling? When all vocations are
open to all why should there be caste system at all? The reformers like Gandhi, Ambedkar,
Bharathi or Periyar have addressed it politically. But we have not had a single religious
leader, Shri Sankaracharya, Sri Sri Ravishankar or anyone with a similar stature come out
and state that the caste system is immoral. Will it ever happen? Unless the religion reforms
from within we will forever see the crudest acts of violence rock our society.
Rajan, While I agree to your views on Periyar, but in those times,
Brahmins were socially dominating and did not allow Dalits inside
'Agraharams' and 'Temples'. Therefore Periyar's movement was timely
and relevant those days. Even as a society, people of TN have almost
removed caste identity from their names unlike rest of Indian Hindus.
I assume caste discrimination being so deep rooted in TamilNadu is the
reason why SC gave go ahead to 69% reservation in TN unlike other
states.So, it is not an easy task as it was for Sri Narayana Guru
w.r.t Eezhavas. I would blame administration for not taking up such
cases strong enough and punish the culprits.
I personally object the way Hindu is projecting this incident, the Hindu is writing 'a Dalit boy and a caste Hindu girl', why did not Hindu write the caste of the girl and why only chose to write 'a Dalit boy' whereas Dalits are also hindu except when from other religion, the writing gives the impression as if the Hindu girl is the cause of the violence, whereas The Hindu could have very well omitted the word 'Hindu', it could have simply written a upper or whatsoever be the case of the caste of the girl, this type of projection is lopsided and taxes upon the neutrality of The Hindu, i condemn this incident and casteism in particular
I personally object the way Hindu is projecting this incident, the Hindu is writing 'a Dalit boy and a caste Hindu girl', why did Hindu write the caste of the girl and why only chose to write 'a Dalit boy' whereas Dalits are also hindu, the writing gives the impression as if the Hindu girl is the cause of the violence, whereas Hindu could have very well omitted the word 'Hindu', it could have simply written a upper or whatsoever be the case of the caste of the girl, this type of projection is lopsided and taxes upon the values of The Hindu, i condemn this incident and casteism in particular
Rajan is correct that E Ve Ra had his target only on Brahmins mostly for
his own political reasons and didn't dare to question the high caste
Non-Brahmins who were the real discriminators and oppressors of Harijans
in our villages and little towns. Instead of vilifying Hindu religion
and temples, he should have joined the Gandhi's call for Temple Entry by
Harijans.
When the rest of the country was looking at the caste division in the society from the Dalit Vs
Non Dalit perspective, Periyar and his followers made it Brahmin Vs Non Brahmin issue in
TN. Though the DK, DMK and other organizations used phrases like Social justice,
rationalism, etc they never addressed the Dalit Vs BC/OBC and instead blamed
"Brahminism" for all faults. In Kerala, Sri Narayana Guru uplifted the Eezhavas in a much
more harmonious manner. It is time this issue is solved in a more harmonious manner rather
than using rhetorical statements or militant hatred campaign against particular communities.
We still live in medival ages.
Caste is deeply ingrained in people's minds. It gets the top most priority, even more than one's life. Especially in marriages, the family members are ready to accept disparity in education, wealth, profession, nativity and so on, but not in caste.
Why did the Police not increase security when the couple approached them? Was it an Intelligence failure or something else?
All efforts of periyar was in vain.
How many more Bharathiyars, Periyars, Ghandis and Ambethkars do we need to unite us as one fellow Indian. Caste is a curse on our Nation not only dividing and simply ripping us apart but also reversing our national development several decades behind. God Save us!
This is appalling. I am truly amazed to what a inter-caste marriage
has done to so many people. If anything, this issue should have been
sorted out between the families of the girl and boy. But sadly it has
been blown out of proportion for which hundreds of people who were
innocent had to pay the price by losing their belongings. This sure
looks like a pre-meditated act of violence against the dalit only
veiled as spontaneous anger. I hope the police conduct a full fledged
investigation on this and find the perpetrators and expose them to the
full penalty of law.
Even if thousand Periyars come, our society will not get rid of the invisible evil of casteism. "Jaadhigal Illayadi Pappa - Kulam Uyarthi thazhthi sollal Paavam" - Poet Bharathi (Rough translation: "Dear Baby, there is no such thing as caste. It is a sin to differentiate people based on this")
We are a truly socially backward people . We do not respect individual rights. We
monitor our kith and kin from cradle to grave.
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