The Tamil Nadu police on Sunday registered two cases against a caste Hindu who forced a village office assistant, belonging to Dalit community, to fall at his feet, at the Ottarpalayam village office in Coimbatore district on Friday.
K. Gopalsamy, 38, from Gobirasipuram, was booked for making casteist remarks against P. Muthusamy, 56, working as a thandalkarar at the village office, and for preventing public servants from discharging their duty.
The police action came a day after a video of Muthusamy falling at the feet of Gopalsamy and apologising to him was widely circulated.
Cases were registered under Sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the IPC, based on complaints lodged by Muthusamy and village administrative officer V. Kalaiselvi, according to The Hindu.
Video of a Dalit government staff falling at the feet of a Caste Hindu triggered a protest in Tamil Nadu.
In the video taken on Friday, Muthusamy can be seen in tears and prostrating in front of Gopinathan. According to The News Minute, Muthuswamy claims he decided to fall at Gopinathan’s feet after he was threatened to get sacked.
In an audio clip doing the rounds, Muthusamy says Gopinathan, without any documents, started speaking rudely with the female village administrative officer. When Muthuswamy intervened, Gopinathan hurdled caste slurs and threaten to use his ‘network’ if Muthuswamy doesn’t fall on his feet.
“What can I even do, born as a Dalit, I need to be submissive but no choice,” Muthuswamy says in the audio.
