A group of men belonging to the Dalit community had to carry the body of one of their community member on a rocky road while trying to cross a storm water drain.

A video which has emerged online shows the men carrying the body of 73-year-old Pappamal after being denied access to a proper road for the funeral.

The video was shot by youngsters from the locality to highlight the plight of the community.

The incident took place in Vilankurichi in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Here, the Dalits are not allowed to use the Karl Marx NagarGandhi Nagar route to carry the dead to the burial ground as it’s the route taken by the dominant upper caste community.

Due to this restriction, they are made to take a detour of 2 km to reach the burial ground.

For over 1,500 Dalit families at Lenin Street and Ambedkar Nagar, a funeral procession involves jumping canals and navigating sewer lines.

According to the youngsters, several complaints were made to the Coimbatore Collector and Corporation but elicited little response.

We are also citizens of this country. The video shows how the pallbearers were struggling while trying to cross the storm water drain. Our main demand is to access the common road to reach the burial ground or build a bridge over the storm water drain so that we don’t face difficulties, a young man named S Mahesh said.

This is not the first time Dalits have faced discrimination while burying the dead from their community.

Earlier in August, a 46-year-old Dalit man's dead body in Vellore had to be lowered from a steep 20-feet-high bridge over a river for completing his last rites after members of the local upper-caste community refused to allow the funeral procession to pass through their land.