SOUTHERN NEWS - TAMIL NADU Nov 12, 2007

MADURAI: For the Dalits of Avarampatti village in Vilampatti police limits in Nilakkottai taluk of Dindigul district, Deepavali this year was of a different kind.

They were beaten up by the people from high caste, and many of their houses were damaged.Threewwks ago Dalit Christian teacher was badly injured in ths village

The Dalits and the people of the high caste communities had remained daggers drawn for some months.

On Thursday, around 4 in the evening, a Dalit youth had hurled a stone at a dog. The stone had fallen into the house of Karuppiah.

His sons had entered into an argument with Senthil which led to fistcuffs. The Dalits, who came there, had told Karuppiah to keep his sons under check or they would go to the police station.

Karuppiah, who is also a Dalit, had said that he also had his supporters and brought about 150 people from the high castes.

This mob had gone on a rampage attacking the Dalits and damaging houses. Over 20 Dalits were injured and 12 of them had been admitted to the government hospitals.

As many as 20 houses were damaged and two of them had been set on fire. On receipt of information, a fact-finding team from Evidence, a Madurai based NGO, had gone to the village for an assessment of the situation