6 tea shop owners held for keeping separate tumblers for Dalits

A senior police officer said the arrests were made following raids they conducted at tea shops.

The officer added that two persons, G Sivalingam (50) and Shanthi (30), were arrested in Pennagaram, a small town near Dharmapuri, about 300 km from Chennai. Subsequent raids in other parts of the district led to the arrest of S Sidhayyan (50), S Murugesan (55), V Veerabadhran (61) and C Devaki (49).

Known as “double tumbler” system, tea shops in several villages have been maintaining a practice of keeping separate tumblers for Dalit customers.

D Chellakannu, leader of the Untouchability Eradication Front in Madurai said a lot of shops continue to maintain such practices.

“There are shops where Dalit customers have to take separate tumblers and wash them after use. Another practice is giving disposable glasses to Dalits while non-Dalits are served in silver tumblers,” he said.

While untouchability continues to be rampant in many parts of Tamil Nadu, villages in Madurai and Dharmapuri districts are notorious for such practices.

“Since local politicians are in favour of non-Dalits, who are mostly OBCs, many complaints go unheard or suppressed at the village level,” said the senior police officer.