The family of the 14-year-old boy, whom Forest Minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan got to unbuckle his slippers, said that they would withdraw the complaint they had submitted to the police, after he expressed “regret” over the incident.
The Minister met the 14-year-old Adivasi boy, his family and also Theppakadu villagers and expressed his “regret” at the incident. The villagers were brought to the Tamizhagam guest house in special buses and they met the Minister at the guest house for around an hour, officials said.
Mr. Sreenivasan reportedly met the boy, as well as his friend, to whom he had gestured on Thursday at the Theppakadu Elephant Camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) to help him take off his slippers.
The two boys were not allowed to speak to reporters. However, the mother of the 14-year-old boy spoke to the press and said that she was satisfied with the Minister expressing his regret and would withdraw the complaint they had lodged at the Masinagudi police station. “The Minister said that he would sanction a pension for our family and also a job for my daughter,” said the boy’s mother outside the Tamizhagam guest house.
Mr. Sreenivasan also addressed a press conference and said that he had expressed his “regret.” He added that the villagers had submitted a list of demands that they had with them for improvement of their lives in Theppakadu, before he promptly left the press conference without entertaining any questions from journalists.
Outside, members of various outfits, including the Social Justice Party raised slogans against the minister for his “casteist” actions.
Disputes also broke out between various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) present at the meeting, with some claiming that certain groups had acted in connivance with the minister and the district administration “to sweep the incident under the carpet.”
Sobha Madhan, a local tribal rights activist based in Gudalur and a member of the Nilgiris Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Federation who was present at the meeting between the boy and the Minister, alleged that certain NGOs had intervened between the government and the local community. “They simply made the issue a bargaining chip and got some throwaway demands for welfare from the government, without addressing the issue at hand,” she charged.
The Tamil Nadu Malaival Makkal Sangam and the Social Justice Party objected to the meeting with the boy, stating that the minister was accused of a crime which could attract sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They called on the police to charge the minister under the relevant sections of the law.