A person belonging to a Scheduled Caste community was allegedly beaten up and forced to eat human faeces by caste Hindus, reportedly due to previous enmity, at Tiruvandurai in the Kottur limits of Tiruvarur district.
A week later, the Kottur police on Monday arrested two of the three accused under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and had them remanded in judicial custody.
The complainant, P. Kollimalai, alleged that he was compelled to eat human excreta by persons belonging to the Kallar community.
Addressing the media in Madurai with the support of Evidence, a non-governmental organisation, Mr. Kollimalai on Tuesday alleged that he was targeted by S. Sakthivel, V. Rajesh and S. Rajkumar over his intervention in a clash between two communities during a temple festival three years ago.
He claimed to have filed a complaint against them for the attack, and ever since the incident, the trio had been targeting him and his family members
Mr. Kollimalai claimed that he was intercepted by the trio on April 28 when he was returning from his brick kiln and repeatedly beaten with sticks. They also forced him to eat human excreta and urinated on him, he alleged.
Terming it a serious case of atrocity, A. Kathir, the Executive Director of Evidence, said though the village was dominated by Scheduled Caste people, Mr. Kollimalai's family faced constant threat from the accused, and blamed the police for not taking up the case seriously.
However, M. Durai, Superintendent of Police, Tiruvarur district, said the case was being pursued with all seriousness, and the other accused in the case would also be arrested soon.
Video evidence
Video evidence of the purported offence indicated that the face-off between the complainant and the accused had taken place when they had intercepted a lorry transporting sand, he said.
A case has been registered against the accused under Sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 294 b (uttering obscene words in a public place), 352 (using criminal force to any person otherwise than on grave and sudden provocation) and 506 (2) - an offence of criminal intimidation under the IPC. They were also booked under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, including Section 3(1) (forcible feeding of invidious substances), (r) (intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a member of scheduled caste or scheduled tribe by caste name in any place within public view) and (s) (abusing any member of a Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe by caste name in any place within public view).
Mr. Kathir demanded that action be taken against police officials under Section 4 of the SC/ST Act, entailing punishment for neglect of duties. The District Collector should provide adequate protection to the family and detain the accused under the Goondas Act, he said. The National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for SCs/STs should take suo motu cognisance of the case, he demanded.
