The Hindu : Dalits on warpath against `harassing' police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Dalits on warpath against `harassing' police

By P. Sudhakar

TIRUNELVELI NOV. 19. Residents of Oorudayarkudiyiruppu in Tirunelveli, mostly Dalits, are up in arms against alleged harassment by the police personnel attached to the Thatchanallur and Bridge police stations and have decided to start a series of agitations ``if the law enforcers continued unwarranted searches in the houses of Dalits and subsequent illegal detentions.''

K. Jayashankar (23), a mason, was detained by the Thatchanallur police last night on ``suspicion'' when he, along with his friends, was sitting on a culvert. When the police refused to release him, the residents, in large numbers, gathered in front of the police outpost at the village. The police asked them to send their representative to the Thatchanallur station for securing his release.

Though, no one represented the case, Jayashankar was released this afternoon after the police failed to correlate his finger prints with that taken from the scene of a theft in the town.

The name of this village, for the first time, entered the police records in 1996-97 after the Dalits had worst clashes with another community of the nearby area, throwing normal life in Tirunelveli and nearby districts out of gear. As some village youths took an ``active part'' in the clashes with the caste Hindus, the village is still being treated as a `black spot.'

Though the bitterness between the police and the village residents was running deep for the past several months, it intensified when nine youths were detained on November 2.

``The police came to my house around 2.30 a.m. and asked about my three sons, who were sleeping. When I tried to ask the purpose of their visit, they took two sons to the Bridge station, though they were not involved in any anti-social activity.

Their release could be secured only in the morning through mediators,'' complained Gunasundari.

Some top ranking police personnel believe that the village residents provide shelter to anti-social elements, especially robbers, and that surprise raids in the village is unavoidable.

``We agree that nine persons of this village were taken into custody in the wee hours of November 2.

However, during interrogation, we could get vital information from them about the robberies that occurred near Nainarkulam in October.

And based on the information, we could arrest three persons from the village,'' said a police official.

However, the village president, S. Muthaiah (63), says the villagers never gave refuge to the criminals.

``If anyone, after committing a crime, enters our area, we have handed him over to the law enforcers. But, the police, detain our youngsters for no reason, which has created panic among the public. In the guise of interrogation, the police used to keep them in the stations for hours together and foist cases against them,'' he alleged.

And now, the villagers have decided to meet the District Collector and the Commissioner of Police tomorrow and submit a memorandum explaining the ``high handedness of the police.''

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