Fearing for life, 10 dalit students flee school

MADURAI: In order to avert future caste clashes, 10 Dalit students took their transfer certificates (TCs) from the Villoor Government Higher Secondary School near Tirumangalam in Madurai district and got admitted in a nearby school here on Wednesday.According to top police sources, these 10 families who are living in the Villoor village were trying to wriggle out of the prevailing situation there. Four students, Karthikeyan, son of Ramakrishnan, Muthukrishnan, son of Muniyandi, Ajith Kumar, son of Kalimuthu, and Dhilip Kumar, son of Pandi, who had passed Class VI from Villoor Government School, another lot of four students—Kaliappan, son of Irulappan, Muniyandi, son of Murugan, Balamani, daughter of Murugan, Karupasamy, son of Krishnan— who had passed Class VIII, and two students—Subburaj, son of Kaliappan, and Kaliappan, son of Muthukrishnan—who had passed Class X obtained their TCs on Wednesday. The village houses around 100 families of Dalits and over 600 of caste Hindus, including the Ahamudaiyar community. Dalits in this village depend on the caste Hindus for livelihood as farm labourers. The Dalit families, confined to the eastern part of the village, took the decision to shift their students to a nearby school in Kallikudi so that their children’s education is kept out of the recent developments in the village.On April 30, G Thangapandian (24), a Dalit youth, was attacked for riding his motorcycle through the Kaliamman temple arch. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case and arrested a few caste Hindus. The next day, Superintendent of Police Asra Garg visited the spot and held peace talks with both the communities. However, the caste Hindus laid siege to the police station seeking the release of the arrested and attacked the SP and the police personnel at the station. The SP’s car and another police vehicle were damaged. The police were then forced to open fire to disperse the angry mob. Eight cases were filed.When contacted, Asra Garg clarified that the situation was under control and asked the Dalits not to panic in this regard.