Ward councillor in Tirupur arrested for threatening panchayat president

Coimbatore: The Tirupur rural police have arrested a ward councillor under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for threatening a woman panchayat president to withdraw the police compliant that she lodged against him for attempting to assault her and using casteist slur against her and her husband.
The Dharapuram police identified the accused as S Kuppusamy, 40, councillor of Kavandachipudur village panchayat ward six.
A police officer said problems between the ward councillor and panchayat president R Selvi, 33, began in May when the latter, along with other public representatives and panchayat officials, decided to distribute immunity boosters and safety gears to sanitary workers, who were in the frontline to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.
Selvi said, “As the work needs to be carried out on emergency basis, we decided to distribute the safety gears in a simple manner and informed most of the ward members through telephone. On May 4, when I was discussing with other members, Kuppusamy rushed into the office and questioned me for not keeping him in the loop. Without listening to my explanations, he started to abuse me with my caste name and attempted to assault me.”
Selvi lodged a complaint with the Dharapuram police, who according to her registered a first information report only after several visits to the police station.
Meanwhile, Kuppusamy and his friends Gopalakrishnan and Deva threatened Selvi and her husband Ramesh on August 14 to withdraw the police complaint and used casteist slurs against them.
The next day, Selvi lodged a fresh complaint with the Dharapuram police, who booked the trio under sections 3(1)(p) (institutes false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings against a member of a SC/ST) and 3(1)(r) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a SC/ST in any place within public view) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, they were not arrested. After Selvi and several outfits petitioned the district administration, police arrested Kuppusamy on Tuesday and launched a manhunt for his accomplices.
Kuppusamy was, however, diagnosed with high blood pressure during the mandatory medical check-up and admitted to the Tirupur government medical college and hospital.
It was for the first time Kavandachipudur village panchayat president post was reserved for a woman candidate belonging to the scheduled caste. Selvi contested as an independent and won the election.