Tamil Nadu - Madurai
Separate cemeteries for Dalits
D. Karthikeyan
Great divide:The ground under the shed is meant for cremating caste
Hindus and the nearby area where a few people are seen is a cremation
ground for Dalits. They do not have a shed.
MADURAI: Dalits of Karadipatti near Tirupparankundram in Madurai have
been victims of what could be seen as a very tangible form of
discrimination. The village has two separate cemeteries for caste
Hindus and Dalits and only the former has a water tank and motor pump
facility and a proper pathway to the shed.
When M. Karuppiah (45), a Dalit who was a 'thotti' (one who works in a
graveyard and also does conservancy work), died on Thursday, caste
Hindus opposed the move by the Dalits to take his body through the
pathway used by them for many years.
The pathway leading to the cremation ground actually starts on a patta
land, which is owned by a caste Hindu. After a recent skirmish, caste
Hindus opposed its use by the Dalits. However, the Dalits claimed that
they had been using the pathway for years. "It is just for a few yards
we have to use their land. Then, we actually move into the poromboke
land," said Jayaneedhi of Ambedkar Colony.
For close to one hour, the Dalits were not able to take the body to
the cremation ground and only after the police intervened and pacified
the caste Hindus to allow them for the last time that they were able
to proceed.
On May 24, the villagers had submitted a petition to the Collector
alleging that they were not allowed to use the water tank in the
village cemetery and, if used, they were subjected to verbal abuse and
discrimination. The district administration now has made arrangements
to build a separate water tank for the Dalits.
The village has close to 100 families belonging to Other Backward and
Most Backward Classes and 75 Dalit families. The caste Hindus of two
different castes use the same cemetery.
A social activist, who came to the village for a field report, opined
that the stand taken by the district administration on the issue of
common burial/cremation grounds, instead of confirming the legitimate
Constitution guaranteed rights of Dalits to bury the dead in the
common graveyard, gave them separate places which reinforced
discrimination.
Judges of the Madras High Court in orders passed in two cases in 2008
and 2009 had stressed the need to provide common burial and cremation
grounds and put an end to caste discrimination, which continues to
haunt people, particularly the Dalits, even after death.
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