PMK claims men arrested for anti-dalit violence are innocent

SALEM: A fortnight after the mayhem at three dalit hamlets in Dharmapuri district, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president GK Mani on Wednesday blamed “some unknown miscreants” for the violence and claimed that those arrested were innocent.
A mob, mainly composed of people belonging to the vanniyar community, had looted and set on fire over 250 houses that belonged to dalits after the father of vanniyar girl committed suicide following her marriage to a dalit boy.PMK is considered the political arm of vanniyars and many dalit groups have blamed the party for vitiating communal relations and thereby preparing the ground for the assault on dalits.
On Wednesday, Mani, accompanied by PMK state youth wing secretary R Arul and ex-MLA Kamaraj, visited Salem Central Prison and met the people arrested in connection with the violence on November 7 night. Later, he addressed the media and accused police of behaving in a dishonest manner by arresting innocent local residents who had only witnessed the violence. “The people languishing in Salem jail told me that some unknown miscreants had set ablaze the dalit houses. The policemen who were present there failed to arrest the miscreants who orchestrated the violence to divide vanniyars and dalits in the region. Police have arrested only college and school students who did not take part in the violence. By arresting innocent people, police are spoiling their lives,” Mani said.
When asked about Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s statement that PMK had vitiated the communal situation in Dharmapuri, Mani said he was shocked to read the statement. “The violence was the result of long-standing animosity between dalits and non-dalits and had nothing to do with the marriage between a dalit youth and vanniyar girl. As a community, vanniyars have not decided to attack anyone,” Mani claimed.
Mani also demanded stern action against senior police officials who allegedly facilitated the inter-caste marriage. PMK leaders claim that the boy is less than 21-year-old, the marriageable age for men. “PMK is not fully against inter-caste marriages but we oppose those in which innocent non-dalit girls are getting cheated by dalit youths,” Mani said.
Meanwhile, Mani Shekar, brother of Divya whose marriage with a dalit boy sparked off the controversy, also visited the men (many of them his relatives) lodged in jail in connection with the violence and demanded their release. He too repeated that most of the arrested people were college and school students.
“Police had arrested 23 college and school going students, including my relatives Suresh, Shekar and Ramesh. They are all students,” Shekar told the media. He also demanded that the state government must release them unconditionally.
“We don’t want to blow up this issue any further. Due to fear of arrest, no men from the village visited our home after my father’s death. They were in hiding. I am the only man in the village out in the open. Now, other vanniyar families are blaming our family for the plight of their men,” Shekar added.