The social fabric of Tamil Nadu, widely acknowledged as a progressive State, is put to severe strain every now and then by appalling acts of atrocities against Dalits. The most recent of such cases — the dumping of human faeces in an overhead tank that supplied drinking water to Dalit families at Vengaivayal in Pudukottai district — remains unresolved even nearly four months after the State’s premier investigation agency, the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), began its investigation. A one-man commission, appointed by the Madras High Court, has also begun a parallel inquiry.
The hamlet, which can be reached by a barely motorable road branching off from the Tiruchi-Pudukottai National Highway, remains heavily guarded as its 20-odd Dalit families live close to Eraiyur, which is dominated by intermediate caste members.
Around last Christmas, some Dalits, especially children, started taking ill. Water contamination was suspected, and youngsters who checked the tank found the faeces floating inside. The victims were left shaken and so were social activists. Incidents of discrimination against Dalits by people of dominant castes are not new, but the sheer perversion of the act in Vengaivayal was disturbing.
