Tamil Nadu: Dalit woman, harassed by moneylenders, kills self in Tirupur; 2 arrested
Parimala, a Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur, killed herself on Monday after she was allegedly harassed and verbally abused by a moneylender and his mother. They allegedly insulted her with casteist slurs when she was alone at home. Hurt by this, she killed herself.
A Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur killed herself after she was verbally harassed and threatened by a moneylender and his mother. Both have been arrested by the police.
Parimala committed suicide on Monday night, May 23, by hanging at her house in Rayampalayam near Avinashi, reported The Times of India. She worked as a contract labourer with the Avinashi town panchayat.
A police officer said that her husband, Chandran, had borrowed Rs 27,000 from Dhanasekaran, who was residing in the same locality. “He initially paid back Rs 10,000 and promised to pay the rest soon. However, Dhanasekaran kept pestering him for the rest of the money,” said the officer.
“On Monday night, Dhanasekaran and his mother Poovathammal went to Parimala’s house knowing that she would be alone. They insulted her with casteist slurs for not repaying the money. They also threatened her with dire consequences if the money was not paid back soon,” said the police officer.
Deeply hurt and insulted, Parimala committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her room a few minutes later, said the officer.
“Neighbours who came to her house found her hanging and alerted her husband. Her children, a 12-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son, were playing far away from home when the incident happened,” said Avinashi Police.
Police retrieved the body and sent it to Tirupur Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.
Police inspector R Geetha said they arrested Dhanasekaran on Tuesday and his mother on Wednesday. They were arrested based on the neighbours’ statements, who had witnessed the mother and son harassing the woman. They were arrested under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
According to another police officer, Parimala didn’t even leave a suicide note. Meanwhile, The Times of India reported that Parimala’s relatives refused to receive her body.Live TV
Courtesy : India Today
Note: This news piece was originally published in indiatoday.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.