Denial of access to Pachery hamlet from Mandalamanickam, dominated by caste Hindus, is one of the grievances of Dalits belonging to the village of the murdered Dalit schoolboy.
Palanikumar, son of Thangavel of Pachery, a Dalit, was murdered by a gang on Saturday, a day before the Immanuel Sekaran Memorial Day. It was alleged that a gang of caste Hindus murdered him when he was returning to the village after watching a drama in Muthuramalingapuram. The immediate provocation for the murder was said to be the objectionable wall graffiti against a leader of the rival caste. Claiming that they were not responsible for the objectionable writing, the Dalits of Pachery village said the denial of access to a road via Mandalamanickam, the inaction of the official machinery and the successive governments to form an alternative route to the village (Pachery) from Kamudhi were the main reasons for the hostile relations between caste Hindus of Mandalamanickam and Pachery village for more than 30 years.
A. Marimuthu (65), leader of the village, told The Hindu that from Pachery to Mandalamanickam, which was about 500 to 700 meters, was the only motorable road to Kamudhi or Virudhunagar district.
No Dalit could cross the road without being humiliated by caste Hindus M. Sekar, another resident, said the petition presented to the successive Collectors and Ministers during the last 30 years went in vain. More than 50 students of the village were enrolled in a school at Anaikulam village in Virudhunagar district from Kamudhi due to the difficulty in reaching the school via Mandalamanickam.
The villagers also complained that a drinking well was poisoned by caste Hindus. When contacted V. Arun Roy, Collector, said the complaint of denial of access to road by the Mandalamanickam village was being probed. Steps would be taken to remove the bottleneck over laying a new road. Water supply was maintained to the village by tanker lorries and the Cauvery drinking water scheme. Meanwhile, an investigation revealed that the well was not poisoned.
Normality returning
Two days after the police firing that claimed the lives of six Dalits at Paramakudi, normality returned to most parts of the district on Tuesday except for stray incidents of buses being pelted with stones.
More than half the shops and business establishments remained open at Paramakudi. Bus services to most of the routes were resumed. However, there was no movement of buses to interior and sensitive locations in and around Paramakudi, Mudukulathur and Kamudhi. Similarly, bus service on NH 49 from Rameswaram to Madurai was also resumed with a small number of services.
According to a police report, more than 80 percent of the buses were operated on Tuesday. However, schools and colleges remained closed in and around Paramakudi. Some schools in other parts of the district resumed their operations on Tuesday. Superintendent of Police Kaliraj S. Mahesh Kumar told The Hindu that more than 4000 policemen had been deployed at various places in the district.
