TN hotel owner, wife arrested over caste discrimination

Chennai, Dec 28 Police in Tamil Nadu's Pudukottai have arrested hotel owner and his wife for discrimination against the Scheduled Castes and providing separate tumblers at the establishment's restaurant.

The arrested have been identified as Mookkaiah, the 57-year-old owner of the hotel in Vengaiyavayal, and his wife Meenakshi (52).

R. Saravanan, a local leader of the Dalit political party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), told : "There has been several instances of this hotel discriminating against the people of the Dalit community. We are not even provided tea in this hotel and if at all they provide water, they give it in a different tumbler.

"The two tumbler system is in force in this hotel for several years. We had raised this issue with the panchayat authorities but to no avail. The hotel owner has been adamant on providing water to Dalits in a different tumbler."

The arrests come after the district administration and police had conducted a joint inspection in Vengaiyavayal after human excreta was found in the drinking water tank that supply water to a Scheduled caste colony.

Several people from the community raised this issue with the police, which led to the raid at the hotel and the subsequent arrest of the couple.

Vengaiyavayal residents also complained about being denied entry to a local temple because of their caste.

Speaking of the developments, a senior officer told : "It is really shocking. The two tumbler system and the Dalits being denied entry in the local temple point to the fact that human excreta in the overhead water tank was not a job of miscreants but a planned operation against the community."

The olice have already registered a criminal case against unidentified persons under the SC/ST Act regarding the presence of human excreta in the water tank.

The police and district administration have now made arrangements for supply of drinking water to the colony from the common overhead tanks.