JOIN USTamil Nadu orders probes into allegations of ‘untouchability’ in government school
The Tamil Nadu government ordered a detailed inquiry into the allegations of untouchability being practised in a government school in Tenkasi district. The allegation emerged following a video that showed a shopkeeper refusing to sell candies to a group of children because they belonged to a Scheduled Caste (SC).
School education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said on Monday that the district education officer (DEO) had begun his inquiry into the allegations that SC students were made to sit on the floor during classes and were not allowed to sit on the bench.
“Since it is a sensitive issue, we have ordered a detailed investigation. We don’t want to jump the gun and conclude things on our own. Let us wait for the probe report. But I can assure you that our government will never accept any discrimination among children in schools. That is why we have uniforms even in government schools,” Poyyamozhi said.
The allegations surfaced on Saturday when the children, who were denied candies by the shopkeeper, spoke to television channels. “We are always asked to sit on the floor while other students are made to sit on the bench,” one of the students said.
The inquiry ordered by the school education department, officials said, will be finished in a couple of days. Stern action will be taken against the parties concerned, if there were any signs of discrimination among students in the school.
The video clip in question sent shock waves across the state over the weekend, following which the shopkeeper, Maheswaran, and the village head, Ramachandra Murthy, were arrested by the police. Authorities also sealed the shop owned by Maheswaran.
The police also invoked the externment provision under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to keep the two men away from the village for some time. It was believed that Maheswaran turned away the children after the villagers, dominated by an upper caste, passed a “resolution” not to sell anything to people from SC due to differences between a few individuals from the two communities.
The shopkeeper, whose face wasn’t visible in the video, was heard telling the school students that they shouldn’t come to buy candy again.
“Don’t buy any candy from here. …Go and tell people at home that the shopkeepers aren’t giving eatables. We won’t give and there is a restriction,” the shopkeeper is heard telling the children.
“Restriction?” a child asks innocently to the shopkeeper who says, “yes.” Then the student asks, “what restriction?”
“The village meeting has decided not to give eatables to people from your street. So, leave. Go,” the shopkeeper says after which the group of children leave the place without buying anything.