Tamil Nadu: Dalit Woman Seeks Police Protection To Hoist Flag On Independence Day

A Dalit woman panchayat president recently requested for police protection to hoist the national flag at a school in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district on Independence Day. The woman had approached the police alleging that she had been barred from hoisting the tricolour on the occasion of Republic Day this year.

In a letter to the Kallakurichi Deputy Superintendent of Police dated August 3, V Sudha, the woman panchayat president of Eduthavainatham near Chinna Salem, stated that ten panchayat presidents before her had hoisted the flag at the government higher secondary school. However, she was barred from doing the same.

Dalit Woman seeks police protection to hoist tricolour

In her complaint, the woman claimed that the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) vice president and the president had prevented her from hoisting the flag on Republic Day. “I request you to kindly provide me the opportunity and required protection to hoist the flag at the government higher secondary school on the 75th Independence Day,” read her letter to the local police.

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S Pugazhendi Ganesh, the deputy superintendent of police for Kallakurichi, told The Indian Express that the police would protect Sudha in order to discourage practices like caste discrimination. However, he also added that it was not a mandate for the panchayat president to hoist the tricolour on Republic or Independence Day. "There are different practices in different areas. In some places, the panchayat president might hoist the flag while in others, it may be the PTA president," said the DSP. 

He also stated, "There is no standing order from the government that only panchayat presidents should hoist the flag on Independence Day or Republic Day. Conventionally, the headmaster is the authorised person to hoist the flag.”

The DSP further added that since the woman had claimed that she is being discriminated against because she hails from a socially-backward community, the police will provide protection to her on Independence Day. The police have also informed the headmaster of the school in question about it, who said that he had no issues if Sudha hoists the flag.

Ganesh further said that giving protection was a measure to eradicate such kind of discrimination and the police will take stringent action against those who discriminate against others on any ground. He said an FIR under the SC/ST Act has been lodged in connection with the Republic Day incident and a probe is underway.