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The Bhuvanagiri police on Saturday arrested Sinduja, secretary of the Therku Thittai panchayat in the Mel Bhuvanagiri block in Cuddalore, after it emerged that panchayat president Rajeshwari Saravana Kumar, from a Scheduled Caste, was compelled to sit on the floor at panchayat conferences.
The police additionally arrested Sugumar, a caste Hindu and member of ward quantity 6.
Superintendent of Police M. Sree Abhinav mentioned Sugumar was arrested after an inquiry. He had additionally threatened Ms. Saravana Kumar on the panchayat conferences, he mentioned.
Ms. Sinduja was earlier suspended by Collector Chandra Sekhar Sakhamuri following an inquiry.
A case was booked towards Ms. Sinduja and panchayat vice-president Mohan Raj beneath Section 3 (1) (m) and (r) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Mohan Raj is at giant, and the police have launched a search. Ms. Saravana Kumar spoke in regards to the harassment and discrimination she had confronted from caste Hindus, together with Mohan Raj, after a photograph of her sitting on the bottom whereas different members have been seated on chairs at a panchayat assembly went viral. The assembly was held in July.
Mr. Sakhamuri instructed The Hindu that the matter was introduced to the discover of the administration on Friday. He mentioned he would go to the panchayat, together with Mr. Sree Abhinav, for an inquiry.
The Therku Thittai panchayat has six ward members, together with two belonging to the Adi Dravidar group, whereas the others are caste Hindus.
Alleging that she had been a sufferer of caste discrimination ever since she was elected because the president in January, Ms. Saravana Kumar mentioned Mr. Mohan Raj and three different ward members didn’t permit her to operate independently. “I was not allowed to hoist the national flag during the Republic Day in January. The panchayat vice-president said his father would hoist the flag instead. He and three other ward members, all caste Hindus, insulted me and forced me and the other Dalit ward member, Suganthi, to sit on the floor at meetings, while the rest sat on chairs,” she mentioned.
Ms. Saravana Kumar alleged that she had not been allowed to occupy her seat on the panchayat workplace. This had occurred on the final three conferences, and the explanation they’d cited was that an satisfactory variety of chairs was not accessible, she mentioned. In the bigger curiosity of serving the folks, she had been bearing with the insult and disrespect. “The situation has now reached a point where continued silence would only strengthen their attitude, and hence I have decided to speak out,” she mentioned.
The panchayat conferences have been convened solely by the vice-president, who maintained that that “I am a woman and know nothing and should remain quiet,” she mentioned. She mentioned he had dared her to lodge a grievance with any authority, together with the Collector. “He said the officials would be the least bothered,” she added.
A senior official mentioned caste-based discrimination had been prevailing in the panchayat for a while. But he rejected her cost that she was not allowed to hoist the nationwide flag on Republic Day. “The incident [in which she was forced to sit on the floor] happened a few months ago and the photo surfaced now… We directed the Assistant Director, Panchayats, to conduct an inquiry and lodged a complaint with the police to take action under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” he mentioned.
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