Tamil Nadu Timeline

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Melavalavu massacre

· Melur

Dalit panchayat president K. Murugesan and six other Dalit men were murdered at Melavalavu near Madurai by members of a dominant caste.

Melavalavu panchayat in Madurai district was reserved for a Scheduled Caste president in the 1996 local body elections, which dominant caste groups opposed. After K. Murugesan, a Dalit, won the election, he and six other Dalit men were attacked and killed on a bus returning from Madurai on 30 June 1997. Murugesan was beheaded. The killings became a symbol of violent resistance to Dalit political representation in local government, and the accused were later tried and convicted.

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