A group of school children from the Dalit community in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu were restricted from walking through a mud lane by an upper caste elderly women, who hurled casties slurs at them.
The incident occurred in Kollangarai village on September 25. A video emerged on social media platform where she tries to block the school-going children with a long stick.
“Go back!” she shouts at them.
The children were accompanied by a young Dalit man, who gently pushes the old woman aside, despite her repeated efforts to stop them.
Chellakannu, state president of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), condemned the incident, stating that the woman had used the casteist slur ‘eliya saathi’ while blocking the children’s passage. He clarified that the lane is a public mud path, officially designated as a ‘vandi paathai’ or vehicle route.
“The path was recently encroached upon by locals who had planted banana saplings, which forced the children to take a one-and-a-half kilometre detour around a waterbody. For 18 days, the children could not use the original route until youths from the area intervened,” Chellakannu was quoted by The Observer Post.
The TNUEF state president also said that the villagers had previously complained to the officials about the encroachment three months ago. The lane was reopened following the intervention of the Tahsildar.
“No arrests have been made so far. An FIR has been registered against the woman and family members. Investigation is going on,” the official told PTI on Saturday.
(With PTI inputs)
