The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought response from the State on a public interest litigation petition complaining of barbers refusing to give haircuts to Scheduled Castes people in Pudupatti in Pudukkottai district.
A Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and Krishnan Ramasamy sought response on the petition filed by R. Selvan of Pudukkottai district, member of Periyar Ambedkar Makkal Kalagam. He said that the discriminatory practice had been taking place for the past 20 years.
The petitioner said there were about 600 families in the village. About 150 families belonged to Scheduled Castes. The three barber shops in the village were run by the people from the dominant castes.
They had to travel all the way to Karambakudi to get their hair cut. Even if the barbers were ready, the people of the dominant castes intervened and caused trouble, he said.
The petitioner said that he had made a representation to police officials about the caste discrimination. But, no action was taken so far. The practice of denying haircut to the people of the Scheduled Castes was against law and natural justice, he said.
He sought a direction to authorities to visit Pudupatti and stop the discriminatory practice. He said action should be taken against those who indulged in the discriminatory practice. The court adjourned the hearing by four weeks.
