Days after a video of a Dalit government employee allegedly being forced to bow down in front of a caste Hindu man in Coimbatore district went viral, another video of the incident surfaced online on Friday. In the new video, the Dalit staff member is seen striking the Hindu man during a verbal spat between the two.
Taking cognizance of the new video, the district revenue officer transferred the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) and Dalit staff member, who is an assistant at the office, on Saturday, The News Minute reported. As part of departmental action, VAO Kalaiselvi has been transferred to Kalampalayam and VA Muthusamy has been transferred to Ambothi revenue office in Coimbatore district from the Annur VAO office.
In the new video of the incident, 42-year-old Gopinathan and Muthusamy indulge in a verbal spat, and in a fit of rage, Muthusamy, then strikes Gopinathan on face, as the latter falls to the ground. Kalaiselvi then rushes and is seen pacifying Gopinathan, requesting him to drink water. The two men then continue to argue while the video ends.
The incident reportedly took place on August 6 when Gopinathan who hails from the Gounder community and works as a marriage broker had gone to the Village Administrative Officers (VAO) office in Annur. He had reportedly paid money to procure certain documents to process land patta.
As per reports, Gopinathan refused to bring the mandatory documents and started arguing aggressively with the woman officer. In the meantime, the Dalit man 56-year-old Muthusamy, who works as a helper at the office, arrived and requested Gopinathan to talk in a decent manner with the woman officer. But, instead of sorting out the matter peacefully, Gopinathan allegedly behaved rudely with Muthusamy as well.
Muthusamy purportedly can be seen in tears and falling at the feet of Gopinathan (in the old video), while his other employees at the office were asking and picking Muthusamy from the floor. He was also seen crying and hitting his head. Gopinathan had earlier tried to lodge a complaint against Muthusamy at the Annur police station but no FIR was registered.
After the video went viral, Coimbatore District Collector GS Sameeran had on August 7 ordered an internal inquiry committee headed by District Revenue Officer Leela Alex. And on August 7, the Annur police booked Gopinathan under Sections 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) of IPC and under various sections of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act as per the complaint by P Muthusamy.
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