Date:16/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/16/stories/2008111655260500.htm

Tamil Nadu

At a hearing, plaints of rights violation galore

S. Sundar

Officials accused of siding with caste Hindus, not helping Dalit victims of atrocities

— Photo: S. James

PLEADING FOR JUSTICE: A Dalit victim deposing before jury members at a public hearing organised by the People’s Watch at Virudhunagar on Friday.

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Jury members at a public hearing on human rights violation decried what they called the lackadaisical attitude of the district administration, the police and the judiciary while dealing with some cases of atrocities perpetrated on Dalits.

“Not even the British would have unleashed such a crude torture [against the innocent people] for no [valid] case against them,” said N. Markandan, a jury member and former Vice-Chancellor of Ganghigram Rural Institute, when a Dalit youth narrated how he and his father were hounded by the police as he refused to “bribe” them.

“One of them threatened to shoot me down when I refused to withdraw a private complaint filed against a police official,” K. Murugan of Rajapalayam said.

The jury promised to seek an assurance from the Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police for protection to Mr. Murugan.

Six cases came up at the public hearing that was for the first time held in an open ground on Friday evening.

Two other cases of caste Hindus letting loose a brutal attack on Dalit youths came in for strong criticism.

The victims said that though they were injured in attacks, the police chose to file counter complaints against the Dalits. “This is only to weaken the case and force the poor victims to withdraw them,” said M.A. Britto, a jury member.

Members of 10 Dalit families of South Anaikuttam were assaulted with lethal weapons and their houses were ransacked after one of them refused to remove the carcass of a cow from the village. “We had to keep a body [of our relative] for two days in the village, as caste Hindus denied us permission to cremate it in the yard constructed under the Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam,” said A. Muthukrishnan.

Reacting to his allegation of Revenue Department officials not coming forward to help them out, Dr. Markandan said: “If this is the attitude of the officials, the division of people on caste lines will remain for ever.”

In another case, a mob assaulted Dalits at Kaloorani when they took out a religious procession just because the Dalits had put up a flex banner for a marriage in a common place.

Henri Tiphagne of People’s Watch criticised the police for not arresting the “absconding” accused in the case, who took part in the peace-meeting. He accused the political bigwigs of having prevented the law from taking its own course.

The jury was urged to send its findings to the district administration, so that the victims could get a suitable compensation and action could be taken against the officials who had failed to register cases under proper sections. “The Collector should be asked to orient the officials in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” a speaker said.

The other jury members were B. Parthasarathy, Director of National Project on Prevention of Torture; V. Azhagirisamy, former Sivakasi MP; and E. Athisayakumar, human rights activist.