Eight persons of an intermediate caste were arrested at Vandal village in Nagapattinam district on Friday for allegedly forcing a 17-year-old Dalit teen to prostrate before a banner of Vanniyar leader Kaduvetti Guru in “atonement for having uploaded a denigratory video clip” on a social media platform.
After the video about the late leader went viral, some persons belonging to the intermediate caste group admonished the teen on Thursday and forced him to ask for forgiveness in front of the flex banner in the village that falls under the Thalaignayiru police station limits. The video of the teen prostrating before the banner also went viral, prompting a group of Dalits to approach the police along with the teen and file a complaint.
Superintendent of Police G. Jawahar said there was no further trouble in the village where a minimal police force has been deployed.
The eight persons were arrested under Sections 147 (rioting), 294(b) (singing, reciting, or uttering obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place), 352 (punishment for assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation) and 506 Part-1 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The teen was arrested under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, for publishing or transmitting obscene material in the electronic form.