Tribal Boy Withdraws Complaint against Tamil Nadu Minister Who Made Him Kneel Down and Remove His Slipper

Nilgiris/Chennai: A day after a Tamil Nadu minister made him unbuckle his slippers, a tribal boy has withdrawn the complaint filed against the leader after the latter met his family.

State Forest Minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan on Thursday faced flak after a television channel aired footage of him making CB Kethan unbuckle his shoe so that he could enter a temple.

Kethan had filed a case against Sreenivasan under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Kaliammal, Kethan’s mother, on Friday said all problems have been resolved.

“No one should discriminate against him. Our community has been excluded from society. We want the minister and Collector to visit our place and listen to our demands,” she said, adding that Sreenivasan has assured her that the family will be provided pension and her daughter given a job.

“We are withdrawing the complaint,” she said.

Sreenivasan on Friday reiterated his earlier stance that the boy is like his grandson and he didn’t intend to humiliate him.

“I spoke to the boy, his family and the people of his community. I clarified that I had called him as I considered him my grandson,” said the minister. “I didn’t have any other intentions. They have given me a list of their demands, which I have forwarded to the Collector.”

Kethan, a student from the Nilgiris district, received unsolicited attention after the clip sowing him kneeling to unbuckle Sreenivasan’s shoes went viral.

In a letter to the police, Kethan described what appears to have been an ordeal. "After I came to know that the videos were flashed in the media, I was very embarrassed, and I broke down," he said.

Sreenivasan had visited the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgris district to inaugurate the Elephants' Rehabilitation Centre when the incident took place in the presence of the District Collector, Forest Secretary and other officials.

The video showed Kethan timidly bending down to remove the minister's slippers as department officials and bureaucrats look on.

In the video, Sreenivasan can be heard calling the boy and asking him to undo his shoe buckle. "Come here... come here...buckle...remove this buckle..." he is heard saying.

Videos of the incident went viral on social media, with many expressing outrage against the minister's actions and others accusing him of discriminating against and mistreating the tribal boy. Others pointed out the "arrogance" of the minister who could not even take off his own shoe. Many called for Sreenivasan to be sacked.

The outrage was primarily against the callousness and the apparent overtones of casteist discrimination. Kethan also referred to it in his complaint, saying, "The minister knows well that the people present there belong to the Adivasi community."

(With inputs from George Williams)