Continues To Live In Thanjavur’s Pattukottai Town Despite Social Boycott
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| Wall of Hatred-A structure under construction in front of Murugan's House in Pattukottai Town |
O Murugan has been a resident in Bharati Nagar of the Pattukottai municipality for 20 years. Unfortunately, Murugan’s is the only dalit family in the town in Thanjavur district.
The non-dalits don’t want a dalit living among them. They first asked him to vacate the house, threatened him and then started dumping garbage on his premises. Murugan didn’t react. With his wife and three children, he tried to survive, inhaling the foul smell emanating from the garbage every day. A huge trunk of a tree was soon placed at the entrance to his house. A ‘social boycott’ followed. Of late, the entrance to his house has been blocked under the guise of road-widening.
“The non-dalits don’t want a dalit living in their area. They have been torturing the family for quite a long time. They want him to leave the house which he got from his parents. The family is even facing a social boycott. Nobody will give him a job, and he has to go out of the village for earning his living. They even placed a garbage bin in front of his house, which was later removed with the help of the police,” says Satha Sivakumar, president of the TN Adidravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an organization which fights for the dalit rights and issues in Pattukottai.
Murugan, 35, has three children, of which the youngest is suffering from stunted growth. “Due to the social boycott, my husband has to go to Thanjavur to find a job. Since the town is 48 km from here, he comes back only in the midnight and leaves early in the morning. Although we filed a case in the Pattukottai police station, the harassment still continues. Of late, they have blocked the entrance to our house by erecting concrete walls in the guise of road-widening,” says Murugesi, wife of Murugan.
The issue, according to the police, is not new. “Four months ago, we had picked up a group of non-dalit youth for threatening Murugan. A case was also filed against them. When Murugan filed another case to remove the garbage bin, we took action immediately. The bin was removed. But we have limitations in solving the recent issue because it comes under the municipality. Yet, we have advised the authority concerned not to block his entrance,” says Pattukottai deputy SP N Narayanaswami.
Councillor K B Mohan of Pattukottai municipality, however, sees a political motive behind the harassment. “The non-dalits are troubling him for quite a long time. The DMK has majority in the municipality. Since Murugan is an AIADMK supporter, the chairperson won’t support him,” he says. What does the chairperson say? “We don’t want to create any trouble to anyone. This is done as part of the roadwidening. I don’t know about the other issues,” says Priya Ilango, chairperson of the municipality. “It is immaterial which party Murugan belongs to, what he needs is the right to live freely and comfortably without fear,” Sivakumar said.- mt.saju@timesgroup.com
The non-dalits don’t want a dalit living among them. They first asked him to vacate the house, threatened him and then started dumping garbage on his premises. Murugan didn’t react. With his wife and three children, he tried to survive, inhaling the foul smell emanating from the garbage every day. A huge trunk of a tree was soon placed at the entrance to his house. A ‘social boycott’ followed. Of late, the entrance to his house has been blocked under the guise of road-widening.
“The non-dalits don’t want a dalit living in their area. They have been torturing the family for quite a long time. They want him to leave the house which he got from his parents. The family is even facing a social boycott. Nobody will give him a job, and he has to go out of the village for earning his living. They even placed a garbage bin in front of his house, which was later removed with the help of the police,” says Satha Sivakumar, president of the TN Adidravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an organization which fights for the dalit rights and issues in Pattukottai.
Murugan, 35, has three children, of which the youngest is suffering from stunted growth. “Due to the social boycott, my husband has to go to Thanjavur to find a job. Since the town is 48 km from here, he comes back only in the midnight and leaves early in the morning. Although we filed a case in the Pattukottai police station, the harassment still continues. Of late, they have blocked the entrance to our house by erecting concrete walls in the guise of road-widening,” says Murugesi, wife of Murugan.
The issue, according to the police, is not new. “Four months ago, we had picked up a group of non-dalit youth for threatening Murugan. A case was also filed against them. When Murugan filed another case to remove the garbage bin, we took action immediately. The bin was removed. But we have limitations in solving the recent issue because it comes under the municipality. Yet, we have advised the authority concerned not to block his entrance,” says Pattukottai deputy SP N Narayanaswami.
Councillor K B Mohan of Pattukottai municipality, however, sees a political motive behind the harassment. “The non-dalits are troubling him for quite a long time. The DMK has majority in the municipality. Since Murugan is an AIADMK supporter, the chairperson won’t support him,” he says. What does the chairperson say? “We don’t want to create any trouble to anyone. This is done as part of the roadwidening. I don’t know about the other issues,” says Priya Ilango, chairperson of the municipality. “It is immaterial which party Murugan belongs to, what he needs is the right to live freely and comfortably without fear,” Sivakumar said.- mt.saju@timesgroup.com
Soource: The Times of India Dt.4-11-10
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