A Dalit man, who works at the Otterpalayam Annur village administrative office in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district, has alleged that he was forced to fall at the feet of a caste Hindu man on Friday and was also hurled caste slurs by him during a verbal argument in the office.
The News Minute reported that Gopinathan alias Gopalswamy (42), a man hailing from the Gounder community, had on Friday visited the Village Administrative Officers (VAO) office to get land patta. Since he reportedly had no required documents to submit in the office, a woman officer named Kalaiselvi asked him to bring the needed papers to get the patta.
However, Gopinathan refused to bring the mandatory documents and reportedly started arguing aggressively with the woman officer. In meantime, the Dalit man Muthusamy (56), who works as a helper at the office, arrived and requested Gopinathan to talk in a decent manner with the woman officer. But, instead of sorting out the matter peacefully, Gopinathan allegedly behaved rudely with Muthusamy too.
In a video which went viral on social media, Muthusamy purportedly can be seen in tears and falling at the feet of Gopinathan, while his other employees at the office were asking and picking Muthusamy from the floor. Muthusamy was also seen crying and hitting his head with his hands in the viral video.
Speaking to media over phone, the audio of which is also said to be viral now, The News Minute quoted Muthuswamy as saying that Gopinathan had threatened to get him sacked from the job using his “network” and also hurled abuses.
“Without holding any documents, Gopinathan started demanding for the patta and was speaking rudely with the VAO. Such caste abuses are not the first time; many times they have hurled caste slurs while working in the agriculture field. I have always been like that, upon seeing someone from ‘upper caste’ I become submissive. What can I even do, born as a Dalit, I need to be submissive but no choice,” Muthuswamy was quoted as saying by The News Minutes when asked in the purported audio clip about what prompted him to fall on the feet on someone.
This incident triggered protest and outrage after which Coimbatore district collector GS Sameeran ordered to set up an inquiry committee headed by District Revenue Officer (DRO) Leela Alex, as reported by The News Minute.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore Superintendent of Police Selva Nagaratnam has also ordered an probe into the incident based on the viral video clip.
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