DALIT PANCHAYAT PRESIDENT ATTACKED

A Dalit woman panchayat president of Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu has alleged that she was attacked with a knife on the Republic Day by a Hindu fanatic with the intention of preventing her from hoisting the national flag and convening a meeting of grama sabha. Narrating the sequence of events at a press conference, M. Manonmani, an M. Phil. graduate, said that as she was about to leave for the T. Alangulam panchayat office in a car along with her husband, daughter and Assistant Block Development Officer on January 26, an employee of Paattam panchayat office, confronted her and shouted that she should not hoist the national flag, and allegedly attacked her with a knife. Her husband, who came to her rescue, was also attacked. When an alarm was raised, he fled the scene. The couple, who sustained serious cut injuries on their hands, lodged a complaint with the Tiruppuvanam police station.