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A section of caste Hindus on Monday reportedly objected to the funeral procession of a Dalit woman in Mothakkal village, around 45 km from Tiruvannamalai, after members of the Dalit community decided to take the body of a deceased via the village main road due to the poor condition of their traditional route.
Sources said that S. Kiliambal, 70, died of age-related illness at her daughter’s house in the Dalit colony on Sunday evening. Traditionally, caste Hindus and Dalits have been using their own routes for funeral procession. The burial ground of the Dalits is located on the village outskirts. They have to struggle through a muddy pathway to reach the burial ground.
“The stretch that is generally used by the Dalits to reach the burial ground was made worse with wild growth of bushes and uneven pathways. It had not been repaired by the authorities for many years. So, we decided to undertake the funeral procession on the route used by caste Hindus,” a Dalit agricultural worker said.
Mothakkal is a border village that connects Tiruvannamalai with Dharmapuri district. It falls under the Thandrampattu panchayat union in Tiruvannamalai. Most of the caste Hindus in the village are landlords with the Dalits employed as agricultural workers on their lands for years. “Caste discrimination is common in this village. Earlier, Dalits were not allowed to get haircuts done in salons visited by caste Hindus. The village has also reported two tumbler systems,” said R. Annamalai, a CPIM functionary in the region.
The police said the Dalits had decided to carry out the funeral procession through the main stretch of the village around 4 p.m. but the caste Hindus objected to it. Based on an alert by panchayat officials, a police team rushed to the village to prevent untoward incidents.
A revenue team led by R. Mandakini, Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Tiruvannamalai, organised peace talks between caste Hindus and Dalits in the village. After nearly five hours of negotiations, Dalits agreed to use the traditional route. The pathway used by the Dalits was levelled. They buried the deceased woman on Monday night.
District officials will hold a series of peace talks between the communities to end caste discrimination in the village. Residents said that Dalits were not even allowed to wait under the shade of trees beside petty shops run by caste Hindus to board government buses. They were asked to wait in the sun to board buses.
Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian said the issue of caste discrimination in the village would be probed.
Published - October 02, 2024 12:25 am IST
