Coimbatore : Close to the heels on the controversy over objection to a Dalit woman cook in a Government school in Tirupur district, a similar case has cropped up in a school in Salem District of Tamil Nadu, even as three persons were arrested under SC/ST (prevention) of Atrocities Act.

Jothi, who was working as an assistant cook in a government school in Kadayampatti in the district, was promoted and appointed as cook in a school in  nearby Kuppankottai government primary school, with 48 students, four days ago.

 A section of parents took objection to the appointment and informed that their wards will not not take meals prepared by Jothi, a Dalit by caste police said.

The parents, who wanted to change the cook on caste ground, also reportedly threatened to take their students from the school and sought transfer certificates, they said.

The headmaster of the school immediately alerted the development officer Karunanidhi, who met the parents and managed to convince them on the issue and Jothi continued to be the cook there.

However, police registered cases against six persons, including headmaster, Sekhar, under SC/ST Act and arrested three persons–Chinnathambio, Devan and Mahendran and remanded to custody and lodged in Salem Central jail.

Police are on the look out for Sekhar, Ammasi and Venkatesan.

A similar contoversy had erupted in government school in Thirumalaigoundan Palayam in Tirupur district, when the caste Hindus objected to a Dalit woman cook Pappal a few months ago.

After intervention of senior district officials and the National Commission for ST, the issue was resolved for a while.

But a case was registered against Pappal for negligence, as a dead lizard was found in the midday meal and 12 students hospitalised after they complained of vomiting.

However, Pappal rubbished the charges, sating that it was a ploy to remove her from the school, as she and her daughter had taken the same food and nothing had happened to them.