TIRUVANNAMALAI: Tension prevailed in a Veeraloor in Tiruvannamalai district after scores of people took part in a road blockade, objecting to the body of a dalit woman being carried through the village instead of the path earmarked for the dalits on Monday.
Police said a woman from a ‘colony’ (as dalit settlements are referred to) in Veeraloor village in the district died after a brief illness on Saturday night. Her relatives decided to take her body to the cremation ground through the village instead of the path earmarked for dalits.
A team of police officials led by Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police Allatipalli Pavan Kumar Reddy reached the spot and brought the situation under control. Police personnel held peace talks with the villagers from the communities that opposed taking the body through the village and the one which insisted on taking the body through the village.
“This is not the first time a body from a colony was taken through the main road in the village. The body of a man from the colony, who died on January 11 was taken through the main road too. There was no objection then,” said Reddy. The women died on January 15 and their relatives decided to perform the last rites on Monday after the lockdown and take the funeral procession through the main road in the Village. “Something transpired between people of different communities and they objected to the body being taken on the main road,” said Reddy.
Finally, the body was taken in a procession with police protection through the main road in the village.
This story first appeared on timesofindia.indiatimes.com