Nandakumar belongs to washer people community, lives in kaanathur village,near koovathur, Chengalpattu district, Tamilnadu. Washer people community comes under Backward caste list. The dominant caste in the village were harassing Nanda kumar’s family to do the washing for the village and they were insisting that the family should not do any job other than caste-based occupation. Nandakumar did not agree to this.
The dominant caste village ostracized the family since they did not agree to their decision of carrying out caste-based occupation. The family was not allowed to worship in the temple and they were not allowed to use common roads too. The washing community is expected to carry the death message to the village community as part of their caste based work. Nanda kumar did not agree to this too. As a result the dominant caste people started abusing Nandakumar’s family and there were frequent quarrels between them. On 24/ January/23 Nanadakumar ‘s house was burnt to ashes while the family was sleeping.
The neighbors extended their help in putting down the fire. There was no loss of life, but the family lost all their belongings. Nandakumar’s family has filed a Police complaint and he has taken up the issue with the District administration.
It is appalling to know that dominant castes conduct such khap panchayats and ostracize and harass oppressed communities.
We demand that:
Nandakumar’s family should be compensated for the loss of belongings and the house
The culprits who ostracized the family should be brought to legal action.
The offenders who burnt the house of Nandakumar should be brought to legal action.
There should not be any harassment from the dominant castes to carry out caste based occupation.
All necessary measures to be taken by district administration to abolish local dominant caste panchayats.
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