Watch: A Dalit's corpse had to be lowered from a bridge for cremation after being denied road access
The video is a grim reminder of how the caste system is still thriving.
Shocking, painful and disheartening..
— Pramod Madhav (@madhavpramod1) August 22, 2019
Vellore - Body lowered by ropes from a bridge after access to graveyard denied to Dalits..
Entry points were encroached by Caste Hindus who refused to give way through a farm land for a dead body.. pic.twitter.com/Kw0EmEUJHg
The body of 55-year-old Kuppan, who died on August 16, had to be lowered from a bridge with ropes on the way to the crematorium because Dalits were denied access to the road by caste Hindus, The News Minute reported. The incident took place on August 17 in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district.
“Caste Hindus had bought lands surrounding the path and did not want corpses to be carried through the area,” Kuppan’s relative reportedly alleged after the path that was meant to be used by Dalits to transport the bodies was encroached upon. The body had to be lowered from a 20-feet-high bridge and then carried to a nearby crematorium.
“Due to lack of space in the village crematorium, we have been cremating our dead on the banks of the Palar river for the last four years,” The Times of India quoted 49-year-old Krishnan, also a Dalit, as saying.
