Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Villagers surrendering for 'self-defence' killings

By R. Ilangovan

SALEM AUG. 27. Villagers of Pallikoodathanur in the Veeranam block, whose "self-defence'' left two alleged history-sheeters dead on the night of July 15, have surrendered a `first batch' of 73 persons including 25 women before judicial magistrate IV here. The judge remanded them to custody till September 8.

One person each from 73 households surrendered, the villagers said. A few more "batches" would follow in the next few days. Those who gave themselves up included a mother and her two-year-old son and a 60-year-old woman.

The police registered cases against "one Natesan and 100 other villagers'' under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC for their "complicity" in the double murder of Kuppusamy and Sundararaju, said to be members of a gang.

The villagers, however, maintained that they were forced to react in self-defence, as the two tried to unleash terror, resorting to an indiscriminate attack on them with deadly weapons after nightfall on July 15. They demanded that their action be treated as "community self-defence.''

Piquant situation for police

But the police have been in a piquant situation as the villagers resisted the arrest of a "few persons identified by the police for the crime'' and insisted that all of them be arrested for complicity. The village has nearly 200 houses.

"A villager said: they (police) are trying to paint a different picture of the entire episode and contemplating revoking some draconian laws to deter those who have come to our rescue." A Tamil daily carried a report claiming that the villagers were being "misguided by a few persons, who have leanings towards naxals."

Hence to pre-empt the alleged police move, the villagers decided to surrender before court, said a youth in the village.

Their lawyer, P. Chandrasekaran, accused the police of trying to "fix'' a group of 10 in this case, in which the entire village was said to be involved. They also started a smear campaign against those who had come forward to offer legal expertise to the villagers, said Mr. Chandrasekaran.

Meanwhile, the locals decided to surrender "villagers in batches'' in the days to come. "One villager from each household in the entire village will surrender before the court". "At least now, the trauma, we had undergone for the past one month fearing reprisal attacks from the gang and arrest by the police, would come to an end," said a youth.

The villagers said they had to think of the `safety of the children, women and village' also. "Not all men could be surrendered. Our property is to be safeguarded".

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