HC reserves orders in plea to lay road for Dalit's burial ground

CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court reserved orders on a petition filed by a Dharmapuri-based woman to lay a road for a Dalit burial ground situated at Jarugu, Maniyathahalli village in Nallampalli Taluk, Dharmapuri district.

The bench of Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice TV Thamilselvi reserved orders after hearing the arguments of counsel for petitioner K Kanmani and the government's advocate.

According to the petitioner, there are about 400 Adi Dravida families residing in Maniyathahalli village and they do not have a proper road facility to access their burial grounds.

"Even though the land was acquired for laying the roadin 1984, the government has not taken any step to provide the road infrastructure. Due to the absence of the road, we are in a position to use the Caste-Hindu's Agri fields to take the corpses to the burial ground/ crematorium. This often resultsin a confrontation between the Caste-Hindus and Adi Dravida people and would lead to caste clash in the village," the petitioner submitted.

The petitioner further noted that she made a representation to the district collector on May 6 and the same was not addressed.

Recording the submissions, the bench reserved orders on this matter.