18-year-old dalit boy tied up, beaten up

Coimbatore: Activists are planning to conduct a protest in Pollachi on Monday, demanding action against seven people who allegedly attacked a dalit youth in Anaimalai three days ago.

The 18-year-old boy was beaten up when he tried to meet his 19-year-old lover, who is a live-in maid in the house of Ramasamy, a non-dalit landlord in Anaimalai, said M Mathi Ambethkar of Welfare Party of India.

The girl, a Madurai native, also hails from a non-dalit community. The boy, a resident of Makkal Sakthi Nagar in Anaimalai, had fell in love with her while working as a farmhand in Ramasamy’s fields. Ramasamy dismissed him from work a few months ago when he came to know about the affair.
However, the boy kept in touch with the girl over phone. Two weeks ago, Ramasamy’s wife told the boy’s aunt to tell him to stay away from the girl.

On Thursday around 9pm, the boy, who was drunk, met the landlord in his house and asked him to send the girl with him. “When Ramasamy refused to do so, he left the house, but came back around 11pm. He jumped over the wall of the house and requested Ramasamy to allow him speak with the girl. Six stooges of the landlord took him to a coconut farm, tied him up and thrashed him. They released him the next day and warned him with dire consequences if he revealed the incident to anyone,” Ambethkar said.

The injured boy was admitted to the Vettaikaranpudur Government Hospital. Head constable Afsar Ali visited the boy on Saturday and registered a case against Ramasamy, Kesavan, Kalimuthu, Raman, Rasathi, two guest workers under sections 143, 342, 323, 324 and 506 (i) of the Indian Penal Code.

Activists want police to book Ramasamy under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

This story first appeared on timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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