Municipal councillor, three others booked for abusing dalit

Trichy: The Manapparai police registered a case on Tuesday against a municipal councillor and three others for allegedly verbally abusing a dalit man by his caste name over his inter-caste marriage. The accused include V Sakthi, 23, his mother V Vijayalakshmi, 49, their relative M Selva, 55, who is a Congress councillor for Ward 16 in Manapparai Municipality, and S Arumugam, 50.

The case was filed based on a complaint by M Balamani Bharathi, 32, from Chockalingapuram, under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) had directed the police to take action.

In his complaint, Balamani Bharathi stated that he married V Priya, a woman from a backward caste, in November 2019. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Priya left to stay with her family and has not returned since. Bharathi alleged that his brother-in-law Sakthi, Vijayalakshmi, Selva, and Arumugam discouraged Priya from reuniting with him due to his caste.

He further accused them of abusing and threatening him on various occasions. Dissatisfied with the initial inaction by the police, Bharathi sought help from the NCSC, prompting the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) and an investigation.

Courtesy : TOI

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