MADURAI, July 17, 2011
Dalit youth "attacked"
Staff Reporter
Squabble over playing songs on mobile
Even playing songs on your mobile phones could invite wrath and
snowball into a caste-based attack as found in the case of a Dalit
youth from Melur who was allegedly roughed up and attacked in public
recently by fellow college students following a squabble over the
playing of songs.
Selvam, a Dalit from Indra Nagar of Manapatti village in Kottampatti,
is a third-year diploma student of a college in Sivaganga. On Tuesday
when Selvam was on his way to Melur commuting by the local bus,
students from a caste Hindu community started playing songs relating
to their community leader. Dalit students too began playing some songs
simultaneously on their mobile phones. This resulted in a hostile
situation between the two groups which saw the intervention of the bus
conductor, who scolded them.
According to eyewitnesses, Selvam tried to pacify friends from his
community and asked them to stop playing songs. But, he was
intercepted by caste Hindu students and an altercation followed. When
the bus reached Melur, a group comprising caste Hindus, which had been
told to gather by those inside the bus, roughed up Selvam.
The following day, the caste Hindus openly discussed in the bus
boasting how they tackled Selvam when he voiced a protest against the
playing of songs. The Dalit youth was soon forced to alight at a bus
stop, roughly 2 km ahead of Melur, and "was attacked by the caste
Hindu students in public." He was stripped of his shirt and suffered
internal injuries.
Later, Selvam lodged a complaint with the Kottampatti police and was
admitted to the GH in Melur. Superintendent of Police Asra Garg said a
complaint and a counter-complaint were received and investigation was
on. Anand, executive director of Equal Rights, an NGO based in
Madurai, who did a field visit, called for the registration of a case
under Section 3 (1) (3) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
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