Daijiworld Media Network - Mysuru

Mysuru, Nov 20: A 47-year-old barber has been subjected to social boycott from the members of a dominant community of his village of Hallara in Nanjangud, Mysuru. The reason for this harassment was providing service to people of SC, ST and OBC community, a report by TNM stated.

The barber identified as Mallikarjun Shetty has accused the Nayak community in his village for making him suffer the ordeal. The latter, it is said, have imposed a social boycott on Mallikarjun and demanded him to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 for cutting the hair of people from the SCT, ST and OBC communities and not increasing the rates for them.

Talking about his situation, Mallikarjun said that the problems began coming up three months ago, when leaders from the Nayak community, Mahadeva Nayak, Shankara, Shivaraju along with others visited his barbershop to question him on whether he cuts hair for people from the SCT, ST and OBC communities. When Mallikarjun stated he does not believe in caste-based discrimination, the three men allegedly ordered him to go by what they say or face loss in business. Mallikarjun claimed that the men asked him to charge Rs 300 for a haircut and Rs 200 for a shave for the people belonging to backward communities. "I told them that I cannot charge more than Rs 80 and Rs 60 for a haircut and shave, as I wanted to keep prices equal for all. I even went to the police and they came to the village and warned Mahadeva Nayak," Mallikarjun said in a report by TNM.

Post his visit to the police station, things took turn for the worse and Mahadeva Nayak began asking people to stop visiting Mallikarjun's shop. Mallikarjun also accused Nayak and his men of taking his 21-year-old son from his residence one afternoon two months ago. "They forced him to drink alcohol. When he was drunk, they stripped him naked and shot a video of it. They can be seen forcing him to speak bad things about the Nayak community," Mallikarjun rued.

Troubled by this when Mallikarjun chose to go to the police, Nayak threatened to share his son's video on social media. He also alleged that he was made to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 to Mahadeva Nayak for not listening to their commands.

"The boycott has still continued. I have refused to listen to them. Now they are demanding Rs 50,000 fine from me. I do not have that kind of money. I have been seeking help from the Nanjangud tahsildar so many times but he is least bothered. So I decided to speak to the press," Mallikarjun added.

Mallikarjun submitted a written complaint on Thursday to the Nanjangud tahsildar Mahesh Kumar, seeking intervention. In his complaint, he alleged that despite reaching out to the Nanjangud Rural Police many times, no action was taken against the men threatening him.

Meanwhile, speaking on the matter the Nanjangud Rural Police said that Mallikarjun sought their help regarding the social boycott, following which they warned Mahadeva Nayak. The police said that Mallikarjun did not want to file a case but wanted relief from his current situation. "Later Mahadeva Nayak showed us the video of Mallikarjun's son. We counselled both of them and sent them back as Mallikarjun did not file a complaint," the police said in a report by TNM.

Tahsildar Mahesh Kumar stated that he would visit the village later on Thursday and investigate the matter. "If there is any evidence of any offence committed, I will ask the police to take suo motu cognizance and register an FIR," Kumar said.