Fallout of intercaste marriage in 2019? 28 SC families allege being ostracised in TN village

KRISHNAGIRI: Twenty-eight Scheduled Caste families alleged they were ostracised in Ulagam village near Shoolagiri due to an inter-caste marriage in the district since last Friday. 

One of the villagers R Madhesh (31) told The New Indian Express that there are about 250 families in the Ulagam village of Banganahalli panchayat and 28 families belong to Scheduled Caste. 

Explaining the situation, Madhesh said that in April 2019, one Scheduled Caste youth, M Suriya Kumar eloped with a caste Hindu minor girl, following which, the girl's parents lodged a missing complaint with the Hosur All Women's police station.

A week after the incident, six caste Hindu men attacked him and two others without any reason, he claimed and added, "We filed a complaint with the Shoolagiri police and a case was registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the six caste Hindu men. But, in a counter-attack they (caste Hindu men) filed a complaint against 13 of our community people, claiming that we verbally abused them."

Meanwhile, the girl's parents reportedly withdrew the missing complaint from the Hosur All Women's police station. However, last Thursday, the case filed by the trio -- Madhesh and two other men -- came up for a trial at the Hosur Judicial Magistrate Court. During the trial, the trio gave statements against the caste Hindu men, which irked them. They asked the villagers to ostracise all the Scheduled Caste families by depriving them of basic facilities, said sources. 

Scheduled Caste families told TNIE that they were denied milk and other essentials. When asked, the shopkeepers and milk vendor said that they were scared of the fine imposed by the Khap panchayat and claimed that they were selling milk only to private players since last Friday. 

The issue came to light when the incident was raised to the village administrative officer Lakshmanan, who took the matter to the Shoolagiri police station. Following this, on Tuesday, Hosur DSP Murali and Shoolagiri Tahsildar Poovidhan convened a peace meeting with representatives of both the parties and involving DMK, AIADMK and VCK members. 

Talking to media persons after the peace meeting, they said that there is no social boycott in the village and Scheduled Caste families are spreading false information.

When a village elder belonging to a Caste Hindu community, R Ponnusamy, was asked, he said that there is no social boycott and there is no need for them to attack SC people. It was just a drunken brawl between the two communities that happened in April 2019. 

Though police personnel were deployed in the village, one of the Ulagam villagers Scheduled Caste youth T Settu complained about ostracism by caste Hindu to Shoolagiri police on Tuesday. Police are investigating.