A group of Dalits has accused the Tiruppur police of inaction in an assault case in which three upper caste men beat up a Adi Dravida community Dalit farmer and his niece.

The farmer, P. Subramanian told IANS that on May 17, he was chatting with a group of friends and his niece Malathy near their home when a group of upper caste men came along.

On seeing the Dalit groups, the upper caste men started hurling abuses, came near them and assaulted him and his niece, he alleged.

Subramanian said, "When the men saw us sitting, they questioned and started hurling abuses. On being questioned as to why they were abusing us, they started beating us. I was hit with an iron rod on my shoulder. I got injured and my niece Malathy was also hurt in the incident."

He said that he had raised a complaint against Chinnappa, Narayanasamy and Mahesh with the local police and the police came to the hospital and took their statement.

However, even after two weeks, the police have not arrested any of the three accused despite the cases being registered under the SC/ ST Atrocities Act.

The Dharapuram police registered a case against three under the SC/ST Atrocities Act but there was no progress and the three were still not arrested.

When contacted, an officer told IANS that the three youths against whom cases were registered had applied for anticipatory bail at Madras High Court.

The court directed them to surrender before the local court within 15 days but they have still not surrendered.

K. Krishnappa (35) of Ambedkar Study Centre at Tirupur, a Dalit movement working for the upliftment of Dalit community members while speaking to IANS said, " The police is slowing down in the case just because we are Dalits and we are planning to take up agitations against this lethargy and inaction of police." (IANS/NS)