The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State to file a counter affidavit to a public interest litigation petition that complained about caste-based discrimination in Pudukkottai district. The petitioner cited the recent complaint of cow dung found mixed in the water stored in an overhead tank in Sangamviduthi village.
A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and P. Dhanabal sought response from the authorities to the petition filed by S. Shanmugam of Karambakudi, a member of Periyar Ambedkar Makkal Kazhagam.
The petitioner said while the case of mixing of human faeces in a water tank at Vengaivayal was yet to be cracked, another complaint of contamination of water in an overhead tank with cow dung in Sangamviduthi was made.
He said the members of the organisation visited the village on April 26, a day after the complaint was made and found that many people had fallen sick.
The petitioner complained that incidents of caste discrimination were taking place in Pudukottai district, where two-tumbler system was still being followed. Scheduled Caste people were not allowed to drink from the same tumblers used by those from intermediate castes.
The SC people were asked to sit in separate places, and they were also not allowed to use common ponds and community halls.
He sought a CB-CID probe into the complaint of cow dung found mixed in drinking water. He also sought a direction to the State to provide adequate compensation to the villagers and eradicate all forms of caste discrimination in the district. The court adjourned the hearing till May 15.
