DMK man among 31 booked for forcing Dalit to kneel, seek pardon
Acting on a complaint from Thirunavukkarasu, the brother of the victim, Anbarasan, Ariyalur police on Sunday arrested one person and have launched a search for 30 others including the DMK functionary.
TIRUCHY: In yet another case of public humiliation of Dalits, a 34-year-old man belonging to a Scheduled Caste, who is a BJP functionary, was forced by a group of persons including a DMK functionary, to kneel down and seek pardon from the caste Hindu members as the former’s relatives carried seer (gifts) and burst crackers to celebrate his daughter's puberty ceremony in Ariyalur.
Acting on a complaint from Thirunavukkarasu, the brother of the victim, Anbarasan, Ariyalur police on Sunday arrested one person and have launched a search for 30 others including the DMK functionary.
According to police, Anbarasan (34) a Dalit from Adi Dravidar Street in Valarakurichi, near Sendurai, who is also BJP union secretary, celebrated the puberty ceremony for his daughter on July 7 with fanfare, which irked the caste Hindus in the locality. When Anbarasan’s relatives went in procession with gifts (seer varisai) and burst crackers while passing through the streets of caste Hindus, the latter objected and confronted the Dalit family members.
A couple of days after the altercation, Kannan (48), the DMK branch secretary, Rajesh (27) and 10 others from the caste Hindus group had ‘summoned’ Anbarasan on July 9 and reportedly threatened them not to repeat it. As Anbarasan’s brother Thirunavukkarasu (32) refused to budge and picked up a quarrel, the situation snowballed into a clash in the presence of Kannan.
On information, Irumbulikurichi police rushed to the spot and called both the groups to the police station to broker peace.
However, before the peace meeting at the police station, the caste Hindus allegedly forced Thirunavukkarasu to kneel and seek pardon. Later, a ‘peace meeting’ was conducted at the police station.
Meanwhile, Thirunavukkarasu posted a video of caste Hindus forcing him to kneel and seek pardon on social media which went viral. Subsequently, the police called in Anbarasan and received a written complaint. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case against 31 persons, including DMK functionary Kannan and Rajesh. The police arrested Rajesh by Sunday late hours and a search is on to secure other accused.