Coimbatore: A month after a group of people belonging to another caste thrashed a 47-year-old dalit man to death at at Sulur, the vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Arun Haldar,, visited the victim’s family on Saturday.
He said the scheduled caste people in the village were terrified to talk and called on the district administration to join hands with the commission to create harmony in the society.
M Kesavan, a resident of Ponnakanni on the outskirts of the city, was assaulted by a 14-member gang at his house on February 7 after he failed to apologize to Mayilsamy, a fellow villager, for accidently ramming his motorcycle into the latter’s moped. He succumbed to his injuries at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital on February 11.
Talking to the media, Haldar, who is also the acting chairman of NCSC, said the commission was duty-bound to talk to the victim’s family after several dalit outfits made representations to them. “It is sad to see incidents of caste discrimination prevailing in the 21st century. While inquiring about the incident, people of Ponnakanni village were scared to talk. The district administration must conduct awareness programmes to promote social harmony, while taking legal action on the people threatening the dalits.”
He suggested that the district administration could make Ponnakanni a model village in this regard. He also directed the administration to take steps to arrange housing facilities for the scheduled caste people in the village under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) within 30 days.
Asked about the discrimination against the dalits in the village who are denied access to drinking water and groceries, Haldar warned that the commission would act again the state government, if the issues were not addressed. He has directed officials to provide ration to the victim’s family until one of the family members gets a government job as compensation.
Courtesy : Times of india
Note: This news piece was originally published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights objectives.
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