Chennai: A salon owner was arrested for refusing to provide haircuts to people of Dalit communities near Orathandu in Thanjavur on Thursday.
According to a report on Times of India, the arrested salon owner was Veeramuthu (41) of Nambivayal village. The issue came to light after a purported video of the discrimination started doing the rounds.
The video reportedly showed the salon owner denying service to a Dalit man. Also, T Rajendran, a resident of south street, also gave a complaint to the police regarding the discrimination on Tuesday.
The complainant said that the double-tumbler system was still prevalent in the village. The Dalit women was denied sanitary napkins and they were also denied milk in the booths. The village heads also said that a fine of Rs 5,000 will be slapped if these diktats were not followed, the complainant said.
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Based on the complaint, the police booked a case under four sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act, 1989.
The police said that Veeramuthu continued to justify his actions and said that it was because of the diktat by village heads. He reportedly said that the village heads of non-Dalit communities have told them not to sell anything to the Dalits.
Following the complaint, the village administrative officer of the panchayat also confirmed the authenticity of the allegations.
The tahsildar Suresh inspected the village and also warned the people against discrimination. The issue was also taken to the notice of district Collector Dinesh Ponraj.
The police also arrested Veeramuthu on Thursday.
The police have also increased security across the village to avoid any clash between the groups.
Earlier, MP Ravikumar shared the complaint of Rajendran to the police on Tuesday and urged the CM to take action in order to end the caste discrimination.