Thanjavur salon owner held for refusing haircut to Dalit

TIRUCHY: A salon owner has been arrested for reportedly practicing untouchability at Kilamangalam village near Orathanadu in Thanjavur on Thursday.

Rajendran, a social activist from the same village, recently submitted a petition with the Orathanadu Tahsildhar Suresh claiming that a double tumbler system has been in practice in the tea stalls for the past few years in the village and the people in salons have been refusing to serve the Dalits. Based on the petition, the tahsildar ordered the VAO for an enquiry, which in turn, confirmed the veracity of the claims. Thereafter the tahsildar visited the village warned the people not to practice untouchability and asked them to assure service to the Dalits on a par with other community people.

Meanwhile, on November 25, a man from the SC community went to a salon for a haircut but was refused service. Moreover, people from other backward communities decided not to give out any commodities from any shop to the SC people. Subsequently, on November 28, the SC community people approached the district SP and submitted a complaint. They also lodged a complaint with Pappanadu police on November 29.

A video of a haircut being refused to a man belonging to the SC community went viral and the tahsildar Suresh again went to the village and conducted an enquiry. On Thursday, Pappanadu police registered a case against Veeramuthu (41), the salon owner from Kilamangalam and arrested him under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A heavy posse of police was also posted in the village to avert any untoward incidents.

Earlier on November 29, Lok Sabha MP Dr D Ravikumar took to Twitter and shared the complaint letter written by activist Rajendran to the police on behalf of the villagers.

Ravikumar also shared a letter he had written to the SC/ST Commission highlighting the issue and urged the Chief Minister to initiate action. He also noted that the SC/ST Commission should conduct an enquiry into the incident.