HC issues notice to govt on PIL seeking road facility for Dalits’ burial ground

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to file a counter on PIL seeking directions to a road facility to scheduled caste people’s burial ground in Dharmapuri district.

The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala passed the direction on hearing the petition filed by Kanmani Kodakaran from Maniyadahalli village in Nallampalli taluk, Dharmapuri district.

The petitioner prayed for a direction to the State government and Dharmapuri district administration to lay the roads connecting the burial grounds allotted to the Scheduled Caste / Dalits in Maniyadahalli village based on her representation dated May 6.

“As there is no proper way to reach the burial ground allotted to scheduled castes, we have to take the corpses through private agricultural lands owned by other caste people. Due to this, we often face problems including law and order issues. Therefore, the police are advising us not to take corpses through patta lands. The non-availability of roads makes it even more difficult to reach the burial grounds during monsoon season,” the petitioner submitted.

Kanmani further added that her representations to officials in the district did not draw any attention. “We are about 400 families residing in the village and most of us are Dalits. With the unavailability of a road to the burial grounds, a volatile situation continues in our village, ” the petitioner submitted through her counsel. Recording these submissions, the bench directed the state to file its response within two weeks.