Members of Ramanathapuram Mutharaiyar Sangam have presented petitions to Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao and Superintendent of Police Omprakash Meena, demanding action against those who had circulated a audio clip in social media allegedly making derogatory comments on the community.
Led by its president A. Velusamy, a large number of people belonging to the community came in a procession and presented separate petitions to the Collector and the SP on Sunday.
They said, in the audio clip, two unidentified persons were engaged in a conversation making derogatory remarks against their community, especially women.
He said the clip, which went viral in social media in the last three days, had terribly upset their community people, who always believed in peaceful and harmonious living in the society. More than two crore Mutharaiyar community people lived in the State and they had resorted to agitations at several places after the audio went viral in the social media.
As the identity of the mischief-mongers was yet to be identified, the community people had been presenting petitions to Collectors and SPs in all districts, he said and urged the authorities to remove the controversial clip from social media platforms and bring to book the miscreants.
Natham
For the second consecutive day, people belonging to Mutharaiyar community from Natham and nearby areas resorted to a road roko on Saturday in protest against the audio clip.
Traffic was diverted on the Natham-Madurai highway at several points due to protests.
ADSP Suhasini held talks with agitators at Vathipatti following which they dispersed.
About 400 persons from Vathipatti and neighbourhood had participated in the stir.
Madurai
The protest by Mutharaiyar community over an audio clip being circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms continued here on Sunday with a group of people belonging to the community staging a protest at Alanganallur on Sunday.
A large group of people, including considerable number of women, assembled at Alanganallur and staged a demonstration.
As the police asked them to disperse since they did not have permission for the protest, the people carried out a procession from Alanganallur towards Valasai, where the community has a dominant presence.
The protesters demanded identification and arrest of the two men who made derogatory comments in the audio clip.
On Saturday, a similar protest was organised by the people of Singampunari and nearby villages near Melur.
The protest flared up in Ponnamaravathi in Pudukkottai district a few days before over the issue leading to violence and imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Cr. PC.
