Expressing deep pain over prevailing caste-based discrimination, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday said, “We have to hang our heads in shame.”
The bench initiated suo motu proceedings based on a news report about a group of Scheduled Caste people in Melur in Madurai district who were forced to carry a dead body through an agricultural field as there was no pathway leading to the burial ground.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi observed that even now Scheduled Caste people were not getting basic amenities and were being discriminated against. The lack of a pathway forced them to carry the deceased through an agricultural field.
Every village should have a proper pathway leading to burial grounds. Since there were reports about lack of proper pathways for the Scheduled Caste people to carry the deceased, the court thought it fit to take up the issue as a public interest litigation petition, the judges said.
“Not only the living, but also the dead should be treated with dignity,” the judges said and put forth a series of questions to the State government. The court asked how many SC community habitations were there in the State and if basic amenities like drinking water and pathways were provided to them.
The court asked if steps were taken to provide them in the colonies. It asked the State to file a detailed response to the queries on January 20, 2021. However, with regard to the Melur incident, the court sought response on December 23.
