Coimbatore: Dalit village assistant forced to prostrate, inquiry ordered

COIMBATORE: Immediately after a video of a man forcing a dalit village assistant to prostrate before him started doing rounds on WhatsApp on Saturday morning, district collector G S Sameeran formed a committee to probe the incident and directed police to register a case.
The video shows 56-year-old Muthusamy, assistant to Odderpalayam village administrative officer Kalaiselvi, prostrating before 38-year-old K Gopalsamy, a resident of Gobirasipuram near Pogalur, at the village office on Friday.
An official source said Gopalsamy had visited the office of the village administrative officer (VAO) on Friday to check some land documents. “Gopalsamy entered into a heated argument with the VAO when she asked him to produce valid documents to check the property details. He abused the village assistant by using his caste name when Muthusamy intervened and asked him to calm down. Muthusamy then slapped Gopalsamy, who forced the former to prostrate before him.”
An onlooker, who recorded the incident using mobile phone camera, circulated the video on WhatsApp.
On Friday night, Gopalsamy had lodged a complaint with the Annur police, seeking action against the VAO and her assistant, who slapped him. In his complaint, Gopalsamy said he had gone to the VAO office to inquire about a patta transfer. “Gopalsamy said his father’s property was transferred to the latter’s elder brother without his knowledge. It was when he questioned the VAO about this that Muthusamy slapped him,” a police officer said quoting the complaint.
On Saturday, district revenue officer Leela Alex, who heads the inquiry committee that was formed by the collector, held an inquiry with Muthusamy, Kalaiselvi and Gopalsamy at Annur taluk office and submitted a detailed report to Sameeran.
Superintendent of police S Selvanagarathinam also conducted an inquiry with the trio at Annur police station. The interrogation lasted for nearly two hours. The collector is expected to take further action based on the inquiry report.
Members of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam and the Democratic Youth Federation of India had staged a protest at Annur on Friday, demanding the collector to take action against Gopalsamy for discriminating against the village assistant.