The dead body of a 46-year-old Dalit man was lowered using ropes from a 20-feet high bridge when upper-caste Hindus refused to allow the funeral procession to pass through their land in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district.
The incident, which took place on August 17, came to light only when a video capturing the moment went viral over social media on August 22. The event has evoked widespread criticism from netizens for denying dignity even to the dead.
The three-minute video shows a group of Dalits carefully lowering the hearse over a bridge, even as garlands adorning the corpse fall off. Another group of men patiently wait below the bridge to carry the hearse to another cremation ground.
The deceased has been identified as N Kuppan who passed away on Saturday in a traffic accident.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, police officials said, “Due to the recent rainfall, the Narayanapuram Adi Dravidar Colony people’s crematorium is not in good condition. Therefore, they are using an old crematorium near the Palar River.”
However, the route to this old crematorium passes through the agricultural land owned by upper-caste Hindus.
“They — mainly Vellala Gounders and Vanniyars— allegedly prevented the body from being taken through their land and asked the Dalits to take a different route,” said a police officer
After the video surfaced, Vellore collector A Shanmuga Sundram said a revenue team has been asked to investigate the matter and that the appropriate action will be taken based on the probe.
