The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report alleging that 50 houses in Velayuthapuram village in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district and belonging to the Scheduled Caste community are enclosed with a barbed fence that separate them from the other parts of the village.
The commission on Tuesday observed that the media report, if true, raises a serious issue of violation of human rights of dalits, according to a press release from NHRC received here.
The panel issued a notice to the chief secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, to submit a report on the matter within four weeks. The SC community members residing in those 50 houses have been allegedly leading “isolated lives,” besides having no basic facilities like sanitation and water. The upper castes, at Velayuthapuram, do not employ the Scheduled Castes.
Published 21 August 2012, 18:57 IST