SIVAGANGA
‘Enraged’ over Dalits failing to present temple honours to a caste Hindu family and sitting cross-legged in the presence of a caste Hindu, a group of people from a dominant community hacked two Dalits to death and attacked several others at Kachanatham village near Manamadurai on Monday night.
Police said a 15-member gang, armed with deadly weapons, entered the village around 9.30 p.m. after disconnecting power supply and attacked the residents indiscriminately, targeting particularly men. The men ran helter-skelter, and the gang hacked to death two men and inflicted serious cut injuries on at least six others, the police said.
K. Arumugam (65) died while being taken to Tiruppuvanam Government Hospital and A. Shanmuganathan (31) succumbed to injuries on way to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Madurai. All the injured were admitted to the GRH.
The police said trouble started after the temple festival at Kachanatham on May 25 when Dalits denied temple honours to a caste Hindu family. On the next day, Chandrakumar (45), a caste Hindu, objected to Shanmuganathan and one of his friends sitting cross-legged and abused them for ‘insulting’ him, the police said.
After the police booked Chandrakumar under Section 294 (b) (uttering obscene words) of the IPC, his son C. Suman (19) decided to take revenge. With the help of his friends from Avarankadu and nearby villages, he went to Kachanatham and carried out the brutal attack, the police said.
They also damaged tiled roof and furniture in some houses in the village, where 35 Dalit families and two caste Hindu families were living, the police said. DIG N. Kamini and Ramanathapuram SP Omprakash Meena (in charge of Sivaganga) rushed to the village and brought the situation under control. Sivaganga SP T. Jayachandran, who was camping in Thoothukudi, rushed back in the early hours of Tuesday.
“A posse of 250 police personnel has been posted in the village and the situation is fully under control,” Mr. Jayachandran said. Three special teams had been formed to nab the culprits. The police had detained five accused and five others surrendered before a Madurai court, the SP said.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes had sought a report from the Collector and the SP, B. Pandiaraja, member, Vigilance Monitoring Committee, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said.
