PROBLEM OF ISOLATION 123
Two enquiries conducted:
An enquiry was conducted by the Dy. Welfare Officer, Madurai under orders from the Dy. Collector and another enquiry was recently conducted by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Madurai under orders from the Government. The result is yet to be known.
Civil Disabilities in Thumbapatti:
There was terrible opposition from the villagers of Thumbapatti when the Harijans took water from the public Oorani in 1948. Till then the Harijans were taking water from a dirty pond where cattle are washed and men bathe. Some Harijan youths were severely beaten and an attempt was made to set fire to Harijan houses. The village Munsif and others are said to have been warned by the authorities in this connection. One case, where a Harijan was denied coffee in the glass tumbler in a tea shop in Thumbapatti, was reported to the Police on 19th August 1953 and the tea shopkeeper was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 10 by the Sub-Magistrate. The village barber declares that he is willing to serve Harijans. Yet the Harijans do not go to him probably because of the secret warning given to them by the caste Hindus. Some Harijans had gone to the barber on 1st July 1953 and there is reason to believe that the trial of the Harijan youths on 1st August 1953 was an arrangement made to strike terror in the Harijans.
Our general experience:
It is our general experience that when the Harijans make bold to asset their elementary rights, the villagers summon them to the chavadi and persecute them in one form or other. Such happenings took place in Mangulam. Kuruvankulam, Adanoor, Pathiettamgudi and Karugakottai. The higher officials of the Police were good enough to visit these places. In some places, the Harijans were summoned to the chavadi and warned as at Kottagudi, Kidaripatti and Pullipatti. The subordinate Police officials usually support the caste Hindus and thus the latter get the freedom to apply their Lynch law and bring the Harijans to a sense of their social servility.
Can we tolerate this:
The question before us is whether we can tolerate this kind of public lynching and humilitation of the Harijans in these days when we had revolted against the atrocities of the Dyers at Jallianwalla bagh. In Jallianwala, the atrocities were committed by foreign bureaucrats on men and women who had assembled in a gathering. Here similar atrocities were committed by our villagers on a few Harijan youths who were tried at the chavadi with a view to strike terror in the Harijans in general.