Date:07/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/07/stories/2008040757760300.htm

Karnataka

Women narrate their tales of woe

Staff Correspondent

I will seek report from police before taking action: official

Six women complain that their husbands were arrested a month ago
Efforts to be made to address problems through mass contact programmes

Hebri (Udupi District): Six women from Scheduled Tribes narrated their woe in front of Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha during the “Shoshitara Swabhimani Samavesha”, organised by Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (Ambedkar Wada) here on Sunday.

They said that either their husbands or sons had been arrested by the police on charges of helping naxalites.

Manjunath Giliyaru, DSS leader, in his introductory remarks, said: “People in 13 villages around Hebri, a majority of whom were Dalits, had been caught between naxalites and police harassment.” Gulabi Gowda, a resident of Kudlu village, said: “The police arrested my husband Kari Gowda a month ago. I can no longer manage my family alone. Please get my husband released.”

Vasanthi Gowda of the same village said that her husband was also arrested over a month ago. “I work as an agricultural labourer. My children are going to school. ,” she added.

Lakshmi Gowda of Kudlu village complained that the police had arrested her husband and ransacked her house. “They did not find anything. But we are facing constant harassment by the police. Should we remain confined to our houses? I have no money to buy food,” she said.

Suguna put same questions after complaining that her husband had been arrested.

Ms. Hemalatha said that she would seek a detailed report from the Police Department on the complaints before taking any action. She said that she would conduct monthly mass contact programmes in the naxal-affected villages along with the chief executive officer of the zilla panchayat and district-level officials.