RAMANATHAPURAM
The Principal District Court here has convicted a supervisor of a marriage hall under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and awarded him five-years imprisonment for abusing and assaulting a Dalit worker.
Principal District Judge A. Kayalvizhi, who convicted and awarded the jail term on K. Kaleeswaran, 33, of Perunali in the district on Thursday, also imposed a fine of ₹ 16,000 on him, and said ₹ 15,000 should be handed over to the victim, N. Kadarkarai, 62, and ₹ 1,000 should be paid towards the cost.
The accused should undergo one more year of imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine, the judge said. She, however, absolved the accused of the charges framed under Section 294 (b) (uttering obscene words) of the Indian Penal Code.
The prosecution case was that Mr. Kadarkarai, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, who was working in the marriage hall, asked for his wages on May 29, 2016, when the accused assaulted him after abusing him, using his caste name. Perunali police registered a case in this connection.
