If you are a Dalit in Tamil Nadu, even a simple innocuous action like crossing your legs in public can cost your life. That is what happened in Kachanatham village in Sivaganga district in Southern Tamil Nadu where three Dalits were killed following a brutal attack by a group of caste Hindus. The dominant caste Hindus led an attack with deadly weapons on Monday night after being enraged by Dalits sitting crossing their legs in front of them.

Two Dalits — K Arumugam (65) and A Shanmuganathan (31) — succumbed to injuries while being taken to the government hospitals on Monday night. Chandrasekar who was admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai died on Thursday morning taking the total death toll to three.

"The trouble started on May 26 when two Dalit youths — Theiventhiran and Prabakaran — sitting with their legs crossed outside Karuppasamy temple. Two caste Hindus who came there objected and abused Dalit youths for sitting crossing their legs in their presence which they claim to be a dishonour," A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, the Madurai-based NGO, said in his fact-finding report. He said as an argument broke out between the Dalit youths and caste Hindus, the Dalits warned them that they would file a police complaint if they continued to abuse them by calling their caste name.

After police booked Chandrakumar under Section 294 (b) (uttering obscene words) of the IPC, his son C Suman (19) decided to take revenge. With the help of his friends from Avarankadu and nearby villages, he went to Kachanatham and carried out the brutal attack, the police said. After disconnecting the power, the group targeted the men, in particular, with weapons and damaged their houses and other properties.

After protesting for three days by refusing to accept the bodies of the deceased from the morgue at the Rajaji hospital in Madurai, the family members of the victims as well as other villagers agreed to call off their protest following a meeting chaired by Sivaganga and Madurai district collectors who promised to consider their demands.

In the meeting, it was decided that the sub-inspectors of Palayanur and Thiruppachethi police stations would be suspended while all the policemen posted in the Palayanur station would be shunted out as per the demand of the villagers. A police outpost would be set up at Kachanatham village.

As far as their demand for increased compensation from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for the deceased family and Rs 10 lakh for the seriously injured, the district collectors promised to take up their demand with the government.

"Even though Kanchanatham is village comprising 30 Dalit families and five caste Hindu families, the Dalits were facing various forms of untouchability. The Dalits together own 150 acres of agricultural land, but they don't get water for their crops until the caste Hindus releases it to them," T Chellakannu, deputy general secretary of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, affiliated to CPI (M) said.

He said that the local police has always sided with the caste Hindu and never took action on the complaints filed by Dalits. "If they had taken timely actions, three people would not have lost their lives," he said.