In the last two years, 15 districts of Tamil Nadu had witnessed attacks on 21 Dalit elected representatives in rural local bodies by caste Hindus, Evidence executive director A. Kathir said here on Thursday.
The latest such attacks had been reported in Tenkasi and Arakkonam. A fact-finding team from Evidence visited both the places and interacted with the victims and their relatives as well as revenue and police officials.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kathir, who was also a member of the team, said in Tenkasi district, a Scheduled Caste woman, Valarmathi, wife of Ayyanar, contested the rural local body election in Uthumalai in 2021 and became the panchayat president. Unable to accept a Dalit woman as local body chief, a caste Hindu family repeatedly threatened her and her husband.
Mr. Ayyanar, who was secretary of Uthumalai Cooperative Bank, was suspended based on “false statements”. On March 23, seven caste Hindus entered the house of Ms. Valarmathi and verbally abused her. They also roughed up some of her relatives, including her sister-in-law Parameswari, who was now under treatment at Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital.
The police had booked cases against the accused under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015, Mr. Kathir said.
In Arakkonam, Geetha from a Scheduled Caste, who was the panchayat president of a village, was ill-treated by the vice president. The fact-finding team found that Ms. Geetha was questioned whenever she sat on a chair, and she was expected to sit on the floor. The cheques for panchayat transactions should be signed by both Ms. Geetha and her deputy. However, he allegedly refused to sign them, which resulted in delays in executing works.
On April 1, when Ms. Geetha and her husband Moorthy were at home, a seven-member gang assaulted Mr. Moorthy with knives and hurled stones at their house. Mr. Moorthy had been admitted to a government hospital in Chennai. Though the police had arrested four persons, the others were absconding, Mr. Kathir said.
Similar incidents had happened in Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Tirupur, Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore, Salem, Tiruvallur, Coimbatore, Krishnagiri, Myladuthurai, Dharmapuri, Ariyalur, Ranipet and Tenkasi districts, he added.
He urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to ensure protection to Dalit elected representatives in rural areas and arrest of the assailants.
