Panchayat vice president in TN allegedly hits deputy BDO with slippers, arrested

The vice president of the Kanadamangalam panchayat in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district was arrested for allegedly hitting a Deputy Block Development Officer (BDO) with slippers. Saranya Kumar was arrested on Sunday, May 1. The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon during a Gram Sabha meeting chaired by panchayat President K Sivagami, which had about 300 people in attendance.

Sources in the gram panchayat told IANS that there were issues between Sivagami and Saranya. Police said that the vice president had submitted a complaint that Sivagami's son Shankar and Deputy BDO Ravishankar had threatened and refused to provide her with the passbook of the gram panchayat.

While Saranya belongs to the Vanniyar community - a Most Backward Class (MBC) community, the panchayat president and the Deputy BDO are Scheduled Castes. Police booked cases under IPS Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging his duty) and 355 (whoever assaults or uses criminal force on any person, intending thereby to dishonour that person).

The vice president was produced before a court on Monday and remanded to judicial custody.

Earlier on April 1, the husband of a Dalit woman panchayat president in Arakkonam of Ranipet was brutally attacked by a group of people from the Vanniyar community. His family members said the 52-year-old man was allegedly chased through the village and beaten up by a gang of seven persons. This was reportedly not the first time he was attacked — he had allegedly been assaulted due to his caste twice in the past five months, after his wife took over as the president of the panchayat.

With IANS inputs