http://www.ndtv.
Dalit tortured for daring to wear slippers
NDTV Correspondent, Tuesday February 2, 2010, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu
Even after 60 years of Independence, there still exists a side of
India that is hard to believe. A Dalit man in Tamil Nadu was forced to
eat human excreta because he wore slippers in the presence of upper
caste people.
"They said hereafter no one should come in wearing slippers.
Arokiasamy told Anbu to put human excreta into my mouth. They hit me
severely on my abdomen and shoved it into my mouth," said the victim
Sadayandi.
"Even men who come by cycle have to get down and push it into the
village," said his wife Nagajothi.
The police took more than a week to file the First Information Report
(FIR) under the Prevention of Atrocities Act. And even after that,
they were not willing to book the accused. Instead, they want the
victim - who is in hiding because of fear - to prove that the crime
occurred.
"If this has happened he has to come forward to give some clues and
explain about the incident. Only then I can go deep into this matter,"
said the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
The Madras High Court has now asked for an action taken report.
A few years ago, NDTV had exposed atrocities against Dalits in the
state. In many areas they are forced to remove footwear before
entering the village, walls deny them access, thorny fences greet them
in fields they use as toilets. Even elected Panchayat leaders are
forced to quit. Thanks to vote bank politics successive governments
seem to have only gone soft on dominant communities.
Politically, Dalits are a divided lot in Tamil Nadu. While the state
pampers them with welfare schemes, its tacit support to human rights
violations by powerful dominant communities is only making things
worse.
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