Tiruppur: A special court in Tiruppur on Friday sentenced six individuals to two years’ imprisonment for preventing a Dalit woman from preparing meals for students at a government school in 2018.
The court, which hears cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, convicted P. Palanisamy Gounder, N. Sakthivel, R. Shanmugam, C. Vellingiri, A. Duraisamy, and V. Seetha Lakshmi on charges of caste discrimination and related offences.
According to the prosecution, P. Pappal, aged 44, a cook at the Government Higher Secondary School in Thirumalai Goundampalayam, was subjected to caste-based discrimination by the six accused, all of whom were parents. They had objected to her preparing food for the children.
The incident had led to protests by members of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, following which Pappal was transferred.
A complaint was later filed on her behalf in July that year, after which the Cheyur police registered a case against 35 individuals under various provisions of the SC/ST Act and arrested eight.
During Friday’s trial, Judicial Magistrate M. Suresh convicted six of the accused and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each. Twenty-five were acquitted owing to lack of evidence, while four others died during the course of the trial. The convicted individuals have since been lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison.
Senior advocate P P Mohan, who represented Pappal, later told reporters that the BDO and some police officials who had transferred the cook following protests by a section of parents needed to be punished in order to render complete justice to the victim.
With PTI inputs