Days after Dalits in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district were barred access to a public road to conduct a funeral procession, residents allege that the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) forced the deceased woman’s family to take the procession on an alternate route—a violation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
These allegations are backed by a report of the ruling DMK’s ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). The VCK’s fact-finding team, which had rushed to the incident site, has alleged the complicity of a local DMK leader, who they say is close to Tiruvannamalai MLA and Minister of Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports AV Velu.
As is the widespread segregationist practice, dominant castes live in the “ooru” or village and the Dalit residents are forced to live in the “colony”. In this case, the majority of the dominant caste community are said to be Vanniyars (categorised as Most Backward Class) who have allegedly been denying road access to Dalit residents. Residents now say that the police sided with the dominant caste and in violation of the Atrocities Act, forced the deceased woman’s relatives to use a ‘caste-designated’ path.
Allegations of power abuse, other segregationist practices such as the ‘two-tumbler’ system, and separate caste-based burial grounds have also emerged.
What happened?
The incident occurred in Mothakkal village in Tiruvannamalai district. S Kiliambal (70), a village resident, had passed away in Chennai where she had been living with her daughter. As her family wanted to conduct her last rites in their own village, the body was brought back to Mothakkal. At 11:30 am on September 30, Kiliambal’s relatives aapproached the Thanipadi police station for protection to use the public path for her funeral procession. Not only has access to the public path allegedly been denied for decades, but the dominant castes in the locality are also said to enforce caste-segregated burial grounds, despite a 2019 Madras High Court order slamming the then-state government for allowing such practices to continue.
For the last forty-five years, according to Kiliambal’s relative Raja (name changed), Dalits in Mothakkal have been asking local authorities to construct an alternative road for them, but nothing has happened. Further, this footpath is overgrown and filled with potholes, making it difficult to carry a body through. To worsen matters, the path runs through private lands, leaving its access to the owners’ choice.
Citing these difficulties, Kiliambal’s family asked for police protection at the Thanipadi station. However, station officers allegedly said that they were handling a similar situation in another village nearby and that they could not spare any police personnel to send to Mothakkal.
Allegations of police complicity
Raja further tells TNM that Tiruvannamalai Rural DSP Murugan was alerted, however, and he arrived at the spot. After talks, the DSP allegedly “permitted” them to use the public path. It must be noted that such permission is legally not required and denying Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe persons access to public paths is a violation of Section 3 (za) (A) of the Atrocities Act. But soon, the DSP allegedly backtracked, after a meeting with the panchayat president Anbarasu and told Kiliambal’s relatives that they must use the overgrown footpath they had been using until now.
According to Raja, the DSP led Kiliambal’s relatives and other Dalit individuals who had come out in support, back to the “colony” and ordered an earthmover vehicle to level the footpath. The landowner, via whose plot the footpath runs, objected to this, Raja adds.
“We decided to use the public road because of this. But when we reached the road, hundreds of police personnel were deployed there, cutting off access with their vehicles. We didn’t expect the police to turn against us,” he says.
Gowtham Suresh, an advocate at the Madras High Court who has been helping the victims, tells TNM that apart from the heavy police deployment, caste Hindus in the village had tried to attack Kiliambal’s family during the second attempt to use the public road. He also alleges that police verbally abused many of the Dalit women who were there in support of the family. Gowtham adds that police themselves took the funeral vehicle back to Kiliambal’s home after stopping it from continuing down the public path. Raja had also alleged the same to TNM.
Prakash Ambedkar, a VCK leader who had gone to the site of the incident, confirms the above events, including the DSP ordering Kiliambal’s family to use the footpath instead of the public road, in violation of the Atrocities Act. Further, in its report, the VCK says that the village panchayat president Anbarasu is the son of a local DMK leader named Paneerselvam.
The DSP could not be reached for comments. TNM also reached out to Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police (SP) K Prabakar regarding the allegations against the DSP, but he did not respond to queries at the time of filing this article. This story will be updated if or when the officers in question provide a response.
VCK’s fact-finding report
Paneerselvam is currently the Thandarampattu West union secretary for the DMK. The VCK says in its report that both Paneerselvam and his son are close to DMK minister AV Velu. “The arrogance from this power is one of the reasons why Mothakkal is still trapped by caste supremacy,” the report reads.
Prakash Ambedkar and two other VCK leaders–Suresh Dheevan and Arul Thangaraj–who conducted the fact-find exercise repeat the allegations in the report that the police used abusive and obscene language on the Dalit women of Mothakkal and that it was the police who drove the funeral vehicle back to the colony against the wishes of the family.
The VCK also adds that the hundreds of police personnel who blocked access to the public road were armed and refused to provide a reason for why the procession was stopped. “They complied with the power-centre called Paneerselvam and went back on their word,” the report reads.
Finally, Kiliambal’s body was carried through the newly-levelled footpath after talks with the landowner. Her cremation was conducted only at 09:00 pm that night.
“This incident has cost time, trust and mental peace and brought disrepute to the Tiruvannamalai DMK,” the VCK further says in the report. They also allege in the report that Paneerselvam has repeatedly subjected Dalits in Mothakkal to caste discrimination.
The report further says that caste-based discrimination is rampant in the area including in the use of the “two-tumbler” system—a segregationist practice of having separate glasses for Dalits and dominant castes. Further, Dalits in Mothakkal are not even allowed into tea shops, but are forced to consume their beverages outside, the VCK has alleged.
The report adds that Paneerselvam and Anbarasu had once threatened to foist false cases against Dalits who complained about the improper water supply to the colony. “Paneerselvam is dragging down the tireless efforts of our CM [MK Stalin] who believes in access to everything for all,” the report says.
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