Alleging police inaction in death of 17 in Coimbatore wall collapse, over 2,000 Dalits threaten to convert to Islam as mark of protest

Coimbatore: A section of Dalit residents of a village near Coimbatore, including some members of families of 17 victims killed in a recent wall collapse have announced they will embrace Islam soon, alleging discrimination against them. [caption id=“attachment_7827331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Tamil Nadu CM Edapaddi K Palanisami and other ministers at the site of the wall collapse in Nadur village. PTI[/caption] The Dalits have declared that they would convert to Islam on 5 January and they are members of the Tamil Puligal Katchi and residents of Nadur village as well. The decision to become Muslims was taken at a party meet at nearby Mettupalayam, TPK sources said. Party sources said more than 2,000 Dalits have expressed their willingness to convert to Islam, including some members of families of 17 people killed in the wall collapse. The decision was taken to protest against alleged failure of police to take action against the owner of a house under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in connection with a wall collapse incident. They also alleged they were being discriminated against by police and other authorities. Recently, Nadur village, about 50 kilometres from here faced a wall collapse incident, in which 17 people were killed. The Dalit residents and the TPK, a pro-Dalit party, had been demanding action against the house owner, since the wall that collapsed was the compound of his house. It was constructed by him with alleged ulterior motives since it had no pillars to support it, according to the party. Also, the wall had an alleged motive of demarcating his residence from that of SCs and thus it is discriminatory, warranting action under the SC/ST Act, according to the residents.