Six persons were jailed after a Dalit employee at a Tamil Nadu government office was denied access to the tumbler or the restroom.

Under various sections of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, six employees of Tamil Nadu’s Public Works Department have been charged for harassing a colleague from the Kuravar group in Virudhunagar district.

Mariappan (48), an assistant at the executive engineer’s (construction and maintenance) office, was allegedly abused, denied access to the restroom, and denied access to the workplace computer, according to the initial information report. Since his relocation from a Madurai office in 2018, he had allegedly been harassed by his employees.

Superintendent Ilangovan, watchman Kathiresan, junior assistant Ganesh Muniyaraj, typist Rajesh, assistant officer Muthu Muruganantham, and divisional accountant Dharmanendra Yadav were arrested under the SC/ST Act and Sections 147 (rioting), 294B (obscenity), and 506 (discrimination) on the basis of Mariappan’s complaint (criminal intimidation).