Govt awaiting panel’s report on Vengavayal incident: S Regupathy

CHENNAI: Minister for Law S Regupathy on Tuesday informed the House that the Tamil Nadu government is waiting for the report of the one-man commission, which was constituted by the Madras High Court to probe into overhead tank (OHT) contamination in a residential area of Dalits in Vengavayal.

The Vengavayal incident took place during the night hours. It was a remote village with no CCTV facilities. So, the perpetrators were not identified.

Along with the CB-CID wing, retired High Court Judge M Satyanarayanan headed one-man commission has also probing the incident, the Minister said while responding to the issue of human feces found in the OHT in the residential area of Dalits in Pudukottai’s Vengavayal hamlet.

Legislators K Maragatham (AIADMK), SS Balaji (VCK), M Chinnnadurai (CPM) flagged the issue during the debate on the demand for grants for the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare.

While Chinnadurai expressed that the Vengavayal incident was a cause for concern, VCK legislator Balaji questioned the delay in identifying the criminals involved in the incident despite the CBCID handling the case. “We are waiting for the report from the commission,” said the Minister.

The shocking incident of human excrement found dumped in the overhead water tank that supplies potable water to the people of Dalit colony in the panchayat came to light in the third week of December last year after the government doctors advised the residents of the Colony to check water contamination as many of them fell sick.

SC/ST Atrocities cases on the rise: Regupathy

Minister Regupathy said the increase in number of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since the victims were coming forward to file cases. Earlier, it was not the case.

The minister said this while responding to Balaji, who said that there was an increase of 400 cases booked under the SC/ST Atrocities Act in 2021-2022 when compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the conviction rate has declined from 11% in 2020-2021 to 9.6% 2021-2022.

Pocso case has increased from 166 in 2020-2021 to 258 in 2021-2022, he said, and continued that caste discrimination prevails in 430 villages in the state. The government should take measures to spread awareness to eradicate caste discrimination.

The Minister responded that the jump in the number of cases of the Atrocities Act as many have come forward to file cases due to awareness.