COIMBATORE: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued notices to Coimbatore District Collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar and Superintendent of Police K Karthikeyan to submit an ‘action taken report’ on the issue of a bus driver attached to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) in Mettupalayam cleaning and smearing the Scheduled Caste (SC) branch manager’s office floor with cow dung following his transfer.
The driver S Sasiraj, an office bearer of DMK-affiliated Labour Progressive Front (LPF), has been placed under suspension following his act of caste discrimination on January 23. According to sources, owing to his political influence, Sasiraj pressured officials to assign bus crews from the SC community on long-distance routes, while others from his community were assigned easier routes.
As D Prakash Kumar, a Scheduled Caste (SC) branch manager, didn’t yield to his pressure, Sasiraj allegedly abused and threatened the official and shunted him to the Ukkadam depot with his political clout..
“Following his transfer, Sasiraj made an abusive remark that a ‘curse had been removed’ from office and deployed a maid to clean the floor and smear it with cow dung with the intent of humiliating the official on caste grounds,” according to a memo issued by authorities.
Subsequently, the TNSTC officials placed Sasiraj under suspension since January 28 for practising caste discrimination. Meanwhile, in a petition to the police, the office bearers of TNSTC SC/ST Employees Welfare Federation sought to register a case against Sasiraj under the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and arrest him. In this backdrop, the NCSC took suo motu cognisance of the matter and issued notice to the Coimbatore Collector and Superintendent of Police, calling for a report on the incident for further action.