[Reader-list] Fwd: [untouchabilityeradicationfront] TamilNadu:Madurai:A village where dalits can't wear footwear or ride bikes

[A. Mani]

_______________ Forwarded message __________________

From: thayalan sekar <rousesekar at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 3, 2011 at 6:32 PM
Subject: [untouchabilityeradicationfront] TamilNadu:Madurai:A village
where dalits can't wear footwear or ride bikes
To: untouchabilityeradicationfront at yahoogroups.com


Dear All,
          PLEASE DO THE NEEDFUL FOR THIS INCIDENT

        http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/A-village-where-dalits-cant-wear-footwear-or-ride-bikes/articleshow/8147427.cms

          MADURAI: Villur, set in a typical agrarian backdrop with
about 1,200 households was once a peaceful village that was until the
dalits challenged the diktats of the upper caste' Thevars.
For dalits of Villur, about 50km from Madurai and the scene of
violence on Saturday night, buying a motorcycle was a sign of extreme
luxury just few years back. But only after they managed to buy one
they realized that the bigger challenge was riding it down the neatly
laid Kaliamman street in the village that leads to their colony.

When G Thangapandian (27), a dalit youth, decided to challenge the
caste diktat that dalits should not ride motorcycles on Kaliamman
street, it ended in a brutal attack on his house by a mob of over 500
persons, including women armed with broomsticks.

"If I am alive now it is because of this grill gate," pointed out G
Murugan, Thangapandian's brother. The gate was damaged in several
places. "The mob tried to break open the gate with boulders, but left
later on Saturday night," said Murugan, fear still evident on his
face.

The dalits, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and economic status of
the more influentialThevars, obeyed the diktats they did not wear
footwear and they did not ride bicycles or motorcycles on Kaliamman
street. "We are served tea in different tumblers and we are not
entertained in the barber shops in the village," said Murugan's father
Guru.

The village has been a witness to the worst forms of caste
discrimination, as even schools have become a platform for such
practices. "My non-dalit classmates would demand that I address them
as Ayya.' If I call them by their names they would abuse me with
filthy words and threaten me," said M Palani, who just completed his
Plus-Two in the higher secondary school in the village.

It all started about ten years back when the family of Thangapandian,
who owns a seven-acre land beside a poclain vehicle, questioned the
restrictions imposed on dalits. "His family was immediately
ostracized," said Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front
secretary K Samuel Raj.

In fact, the ferocity of the attack by the non-dalits, when they
surrounded the Villur police station when the Madurai rural
superintendent of police Asra Garg was inside on Saturday night,
shocked even police personnel. "I have not seen such violent mob
behaviour. We managed to escape their attack only because we had fire
arms," said a police official. Despite Garg opening fire in the air to
disperse the mob, 12 of the total 14 people injured during the
violence were police personnel. The SP's vehicle was also damaged. "We
have arrested 50 persons so far and are in the lookout for 150 more,"
said Asra Garg. Police officials say that the caste discrimination has
social, economical and political facets and needs to be dealt
sensitively. "To start with we will begin with strict law
enforcement," said a senior police official.

"Police see caste discrimination as a law and order problem. But it
goes beyond that. A detailed study should be done on caste
discrimination and untouchability in Tamil Nadu. The government should
launch a campaign to spread the message that untouchability is not
only an offence, but also a sin,'' said A Kathir, executive director
of Evidence, a NGO.



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A. Mani
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