‘Caste fanatics in TN police enabling atrocities’: MP Thirumavalavan on Nanguneri crime

Speaking about the Nanguneri caste crime in which two Dalit children were brutally attacked by boys from the dominant Maravar caste, VCK chief Thirumavalavan said there was a belief that police would protect such perpetrators.

“How favourable should this society be to caste fanatics if a group of teens can enter a house, grievously injure a person, and escape without a scratch on their bodies? asked Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader and Tamil Nadu MP Thol Thirumavalavan. He was speaking about the Naguneri caste crime, in which seven minors from the dominant Maravar community, brutally attacked 17-year-old Dalit student Chinnadurai and his 13-year-old sister with sickles in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district.

MP Thirumavalavan said that the perpetrators in the Nanguneri caste crime had the arrogance that the “law will not do anything” and a belief that the “police department and officers will protect them”, which enabled them to attack Chinnadurai and his sister. He was speaking at a demonstration meeting in Tirunelveli when he urged the Tamil Nadu government to declare Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts as caste atrocity-prone districts. In 2022, data from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs revealed that 345 villages in 37 out of Tamil Nadu’s 38 districts have been identified as ‘atrocity prone’ for crimes against the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

Chinnadurai and his sister were hacked with sickles by seven minors who belong to the dominant Maravar caste, a sub-caste of the Thevar (Backward Class) community, who allegedly resented the boy for doing well in studies. The boy’s family members also said that he was subjected to prolonged harassment for three years in the school.

MP Thirumavalavan said that after grievously injuring the two children, the perpetrators of the crime walked away from their neighbourhood freely. The seven children in conflict with law have since been arrested and an investigation is underway by the Nanguneri police.

Stating that several attacks were taking place against Dalits in southern Tamil Nadu, especially in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, VCK called upon the state police to constitute a special intelligence cell to prevent such attacks. He also alleged that caste fanatics in the police department were involved in a plan to separate VCK from the ruling DMK alliance. The MP also alleged that caste fanatics have permeated the police department and are working to cause a division between Dalit community and the society.

Thol Thirumavalan also said that only a few filmmakers such as Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj had given voice to Dalit politics in their movies. He denounced the criticism often faced by artists and organisations advocating for Dalit rights that their acts of assertion lead to caste violence.

Courtesy : TNM

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