Krishnaveni’s story

The post that follows first appeared on the Prajnya blog and forms part of the series on panchayat presidents.

Observations and notes from a visit to Nellai and Madurai districts in Tamil Nadu by a team – Ravichandran, Randeep Singh, Roshan Sharma and Malarvizhi Jayanth – in the second week of July 2011 with the purpose of making a documentary on the attack on panchayat president Krishnaveni, and the continued attacks on dalit panchayat presidents in Tamil Nadu.

This is the story of Krishnaveni – an Dalit woman of the Arunthathiyar caste who did not finish school, mother of two, who became Panchayat President. She decided to contest the elections as an independent in Thalaiyuthu Panchayat, Nellai district, when it was declared reserved for dalit woman candidates. She won by a margin of 700 votes. Some people did not like this. They thought it demeaning that they had to take orders from a dalit woman.

In five years, many people in her village warmed to her. They talk, with admiration and respect in their voices, about how she laid roads, built a library, created infrastructure with amazing speed, how she did not take bribes, how her honesty and straightforwardness kept getting her into trouble. She filed more than 15 complaints against people including the vice-president and ward members of the Panchayat. They were obstructing her work because she did not allow them to skim public money. They did not like the fact that a dalit woman was standing up to them. The district administration and the police did not care.

A few young men came to her house many times that day, June 13, 2011. They asked her children, ‘Where is your mother? Where is your father?’ She had worked a long day at the panchayat office. She took an auto home around 9 p.m. On the street next to her house, at the turning past Karuppansamy temple, they attacked her. Opposite the library she had built, upon the road she had laid, they stopped the auto. The auto driver leapt out and fled. They clamped her mouth and eyes shut. They had already broken the streetlight on the road to ensure perfect darkness. They pulled her head back by her braid. They cut off the braid. They cut off a ear. They hacked at her, all over her body.

In photographs, she stands bold, straight and beautiful, radiating confidence and strength. She receives awards for good governance, for excellence, for merit. A minister leans in to listen to a point she makes. MLAs, collectors, policemen, all the people she had petitioned for protection, all the people who did not come through for her, infest her albums. In every picture, she stands straight, shoulders square, her courage writ large upon her posture.

In hospital, she lies on a stretcher, both her arms and legs, her body covered in bandages. Her head shaved, the scar of the lost ear turning a sickly yellow, a blood stain on the bandage on the left hand, her sister holding up the bandaged right hand because it hurts too much to put it down. ‘I am afraid now‘ she says. Krishnaveni, the brave. Krishnaveni, the strong. Panchayat president Krishnaveni, the woman who was given the title of Veera Penmani (Heroic Woman) by the women of her village. Panchayat president Krishnaveni, first woman panchayat president in the state to be attacked with such cold-blooded brutality.

Her husband refuses to talk to the camera. ‘They transferred me, they accused me of corruption so that they could get back at her. I told her to never back down. We did what we had to, no regrets or fear,’ he says, later. The dean at the hospital refuses to allow filming. Filming the outcome of injustice could cause a law and order problem apparently.

The streetlight is back on that street corner. That dark corner, place of bloodshed, is now paved with golden light on a windy evening. The people are hesitant to speak. In front of Jaggamman temple, an old woman, eye-patch flapping in the wind, mouth rimmed with blood-red betelnut, eyes rimmed with rage, is willing to speak. ‘They want us to keep cleaning toilets,’ she says. ‘That’s why they hacked my daughter-in-law mercilessly. Jaggamma will exact our revenge..she will..she will,’ she flings a curse at the skies. The men around her are afraid to talk to the camera. The women, too. ‘We were not afraid earlier. We would walk around our village at any time. Now we are scared.’

‘We don’t have toilets. The women can go behind the bushes, very early in the morning or late in the evening. Some men won’t let us do that even in peace. They will shine torches into the bushes when we are squatting there. They would call out vulgar things,’ they said. She tried petitioning the government for funds to build a toilet. There was no response. She went around the village, asking for money to build a toilet, she raised Rs. 1 lakh from the people who elected her. She asked for their opinions on where a toilet could be built. They chose a spot together. It was on poromboke land. A man from the dominant caste had encroached upon the land near the chosen spot. He didn’t want a toilet in that location. Most people are sure that he is responsible for the attack, that he is in cahoots with the vice-president.

If the president is dalit and the vice-president is not, it is obvious that there will be problems, say activists. Both of them have to sign cheques together. Witholding a signature will mean that panchayat workers won’t get paid, development projects will be stalled.

‘We can’t listen to just one person,’ says a bureaucrat with an oily manner. He received Krishnaveni’s petition for protection. He did nothing about it. As she lies in hospital, he says, ‘This was a clash between individuals. Caste? Caste is a set of imaginary lines we are imposing on the situation. Caste does not exist.’ Outside a friend from the Aathi Thamilar Peravai – which seeks to politically mobilize the Arunthathiyar – says, ‘Oh that man is dalit. That lady, his deputy seated next to him, is Thevar. He won’t take a stand on a caste issue in front of her.’

Many of the village’s non-dalit residents acknowledge that Krishnaveni worked without fear or favour, that she implemented schemes benefiting several communities, that she laid roads where none existed. The magnitude of her achievement shines in comparison with other villages where panchayat presidents had learnt to ‘adjust’ and ‘compromise’. Some of the other panchayat presidents have learnt the ‘ways of the world.’ They have learnt to skim funds top and bottom, keep the vice president and ward members happy, buy themselves a Sumo. ‘That is the mark of the corrupt president,’ the people say. ‘The ones that start driving around in Sumos months after getting their post. Did Krishnaveni drive around in a Sumo?’ they ask indignantly, ‘What crime did she do to deserve this?’

Some panchayat presidents are hapless rubber stamps. They told Thangavelu that his mother was ill, brought him back to his native village when it was declared reserved for dalit candidates. He left behind his daily wage labour in Mumbai and came. They made him stand for elections and made sure he won. They made him pay a bribe to his own vice-president to get his own government allotted house. His wife is not at home, when the team visits. She has gone to get her wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. He is at home. The president is not required to disburse funds, only his laboriously printed signature is needed. ‘They don’t tell me about anything,’ he says, ‘They only ask for my signature.’

Other ‘smart’ dalit panchayat presidents in the district have learnt to keep the dominant castes happy with judicious helpings of public funds. Caste draws lines across everything. How smart you can be. How much money you can spend on your village. How much courage you are allowed, how much pride, and how much dignity. The ‘smart’ ones say that she was too ‘stubborn’, that she didn’t know how to ‘compromise’, didn’t know how to ‘adjust’. Given her location on the hierarchy – the unsaid words imply – she should have compromised and adjusted much, much more.

Inside Thalaiyuthu, ‘We need to lose this generation for our people to find freedom,’ said a young woman. ‘We have been brought up to be slaves,’ says another young man. ‘We need to lose this generation. Death can come only once,’ said a young man, ‘What is the point of living like this? We need to arm ourselves,’ said another.

The stories about her courage are legion. The best is of the minister who walked into her office and tried to order her around to do a favour for members of the dominant castes. The minister then tried to sit in her chair. ‘Madam, this is my office,’ she told the minister. ‘This is my chair. Please don’t order me around.’ The minister backed down after that. In a world where Panchayat Presidents are not even allowed to sit in their chairs (because the dominant castes believe that dalits should not aspire to such things), such stories are nectar to the ears.

125 panchayats in Nellai are reserved. Forty dalit panchayat presidents have received threats to their lives. Nellai is proud runner-up in the game of ‘Which district has committed most atrocities against dalits?’ The collector received a petition signed by 40 dalit panchayat presidents saying their life is in danger. He saw Krishnaveni when these Panchayat Presidents came to submit this petition. He didn’t care.

Panchayat president Servaaran had come to see Krishnaveni. He had told her, ‘You are doing many brave things, I am afraid for my life.’ They killed him the next day. They killed him for the crime of being a dalit panchayat president.

They killed panchayat president Jaggaiyan on a main road at dawn, beating him with the head of an earth-breaking spade. Lives were broken, democracy was murdered, caste was kept alive.

Three dalit panchayat presidents – all Arunthathiyar – have been attacked in Nellai. Servaaran and Jaggaiyan died. Krishnaveni battles for life.

Somewhere in Nellai, verdant fields unroll till a horizon crowned with blue mountains. The wind sculpts fields into long rippling waves of tender green. There is a smell of rain in the air. What looks like a roadside shrine turns out to house statues of the Thevar, a dominant caste in the region. Two blood-red sickles with red drops dripping off their sharp tips are painted on one white wall. ‘Ekkulamum vaazhanum, mukkulathor aalanum,’ says the caption. Threat and benevolence woven deftly into one sentence. ‘All communities should live, the mukkulathor should rule.’ And if they don’t…the sickles are wordless threats. The aruvaal – the sickle – is a weapon of harvest. Used frequently and often to harvest each fresh crop of bloody caste privilege. A tool of agriculture synonymous with murder – but only in the hands of the dominant castes.

After the attack on Krishnaveni, the women are afraid. ‘Is there anyone else who can be a model of governance like her? Only Krishnaveni can be that model,’ says Muthumari, friend of panchayat presidents across the district. Her questions to them are warm with affection and knowledge of their lives. Muthumari helps panchayat presidents get training that is due to them from the government, she helps mobilise Arunthathiyar women. ‘My brother is the only Arunthathiyar to own a shop on this street,’ she says, pointing at a shop in the bustling heart of Nellai town. Gleaming glass frontage, ice cream parlours, grocery stores and caste line the street.

Our commerce, our rulers, our food, clothes, roads, houses, languages, lives – all produced by caste. A caste economy which regulates who should be alive and who should not, who should be allowed to sit on the Panchayat president’s chair and who should not, who should chop off whose head, who should sell their labour and who need not, who can eat off that labour and who cannot, who should be touched and who should not.

Servaaran’s widow weeps, remembering the 65-year-old man who was cut down for standing up to the dominant castes. The Thevar, each time she mentions the caste name, she lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. Her daughter scolds her in the Telugu of the Arunthathiyar people. ‘Why won’t you talk openly about it? If we don’t talk about it, who will? Tell them that the Thevar did it. What have we got to lose now?’

(The communities associated with scavenging in several states do not speak the dominant language among themselves, they are usually considered ‘outsiders’. Then what does that mean for linguistic nationalism? asks Ravichandran, the research scholar in the team.)

Everywhere, people are afraid to talk about caste. Muthumari does not give an interview at home, because it is a ‘non-dalit area.’ Jaggamma’s devotees in Thalaiyuthu won’t talk because ‘what if they cut us down like Krishnaveni?’ Inside their ‘own area’, in their street, they are loud in anger and grief.

Mallika touches the arm of the strange woman from the city and jumps back, ready to run if admonished. Her eyes are wonder-struck when no whack follows. ‘See, I can touch her,’ she tells her friends, who frisk about while the widow of Servaaran – the murdered dalit panchayat president – weeps at the camera. Mallika prods the arm of the strange woman again and jumps back again. Then she holds out her arm. ‘Will you touch me?’ she asks.

‘Do you speak our language?’ asks Mallika of the strange woman. ‘No? But you will talk to me, right?’ she asks. They play the game of ‘one for amma, one for appa, grandma, brother and sister,’ folding little fingers into a clenched fist. Then ‘here comes the crab, here comes the fox, here comes the crab, here comes the fox,’ and tickle, tickle, tickle. Mallika dissolves into giggles, her sunny smile the only warmth in a world where dignity, democracy and the right to life splutter and go out in the wind.

In 1997, a murderous gang hacked off panchayat president Murugesan’s head in Melavalavu, near Madurai. The head went thudding down the steps of the bus he had been sitting in. One of the murderers picked it up and ran away. Now, Samathuvan describes how the massacre at Melavalavu happened. Along the road that makes its way through fields, he points out the place where the bus was stopped. Where panchayat president Murugesan’s head was hacked off, where dominant caste murderers ripped open dalit bodies and garlanded themselves with the intestines. The dalit people had bought some land in a temple auction, that was intolerable to the dominant castes. ‘How can Dalits be allowed to own land? they thought. That led to the violence,’ he says. In Melavalavu now, there is a memorial built with the free labour of the dalit people of the area – one of the very few in the country to the victims of caste violence – to the memory of those six people and two more who were murdered. One for participating in a roadblock to protest the murders and another for playing an Ambedkar song. There are no photographs of these men, only paintings, rough approximations of the faces of those who could not afford photography in real life, but have been memorialised in death. ‘The Melavalavu dalits are hated in this region,’ says a young man. ‘They think we are the reason for the rising dalit assertion, for the improved reach of the Dalit Panthers. The police slap cases against us for no reason. We don’t get work easily.’

The violence never ends.

These are the lessons from Krishnaveni’s story:

Political work is valuable, is empowering, is the only hope of the marginalised. We have been socialised into leading cossetted middle-class lives by our caste-ist families and by our overwhelmingly upper-caste media, into believing that politics is a bad word, that politicians are evil, that the practice of politics is hopelessly corrupt. The practice of caste is the most evil, corrupt thing in this country. We practice it shamelessly and blame ‘politics’ for evil and corruption.

The memorial at Melavalavu to those murdered by caste is an exception. We usually don’t acknowledge how caste enables murder. Caste is our own private holocaust – the one we don’t want the UN to acknowledge – where people are outright murdered with the connivance of the state, denied the right to work, to food, to health, to life, to education, to dream, to political representation, slowly starved, worked to the bone, and cast off – and no memorials mark their passing. Only the privileged lead more privileged lives, the roads grow wider, the buildings in the cities taller. This is a country that is built, fed and watered by Dalit blood and sweat. ‘We don’t practice caste anymore,’ some posh city dwellers claim. Sure, we don’t practice caste anymore, we can afford not to, now that we are perched prettily and corruptly on top of a pyramid of caste privilege. Since the harvest of privilege is officially ours, others can carry the aruvaals and do the actual murders for us now.

That’s all.

***
Links to more material on the theme of discrimination and violence against dalit panchayat presidents is available at http://writingcaste.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/90-days-of-writing-caste/
via The PSW Weblog

Fact Finding report on the attack on Panchayat President Krishnaveni – Chellamma’s testimony

Translation of the testimony of the woman who took Panchayat President Krishnaveni to hospital. Chellamma narrates how she found Krishnaveni and took her to hospital and how she was arrested shortly afterwards. The testimony is from the report on ‘Murderous attack on the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni; Investigative field visit conducted by Collective of Socially Concerned Academicians, Writers and Human Rights Activists – Tirunelveli – on June 18-19, 2011′. The facts noted by the Collective and their recommendations are available in two parts: Read the first portion here and the second portion here. Testimonies of Krishnaveni and her daughter are already available in translation.

(Download the the entire Fact-Finding Report in Tamil here)
…

Chellamma (50), from the Nadar community

On the day of the incident, I was at the house of the Panchayat President. I had gone there to fill the form for the Old Age Pension. If that lady wrote it by night, then the next day [I could give it] at the Jamabandhi where the revenue officials would be coming, they said. So I was waiting in her house. Since it was late, I called Veni [Krishnaveni]. I told her, ‘I am at your house only’. She inquired about her children. ‘The older girl has gone for tuition, the younger one is making rice,’ I told her. As it grew late, I called her again. She told me that she was taking an auto and told me to wait at her house. I waited. After some time, we heard the sound of an auto and came to the gate. No auto came. Thinking that someone else was crossing in an auto, we went back in.

After more time passed, I told the children to lock up and go to sleep and that I would come back in the morning. When I came near the Karuppasamy temple, I saw the auto standing there. Wondering where the driver had vanished to and why an auto was standing there unattended, I went closer to look. In the backseat, Veni lay covered in blood. I went knocking on the door of nearby houses saying, ‘Oh no! They have hacked Veni.’ I ran and brought Veni’s children. They also went knocking on neighbour’s houses’ doors, saying, ‘They have hacked mother’. Then we told one person to call the police. We told them, ‘They have hacked and cut up a woman, come immediately’. We called 108 for the ambulance. It didn’t come.

We took some water and sprinkled on her face. Veni slightly moved her head. I said, ‘See, she is alive, get an auto, let us go to hospital’. No auto would come. They said they would have to run around about the police case afterward.

Then there was a boy on our street who knows how to drive an auto. I made him start the auto that Veni was in. I promised him that he wouldn’t have to worry about any case, that I would take care. One hack of the sickle had broken Veni’s chain. I took it off and gave it to her daughter. We bandaged her with a towel so that there won’t be too much blood loss and we went. The auto had blood all over. Blood had clotted on the floor of the auto. If some more time had passed and we hadn’t found her, she would have died of bleeding. The people who hacked her also would have left her because they thought she was dead.

The police came and took me away saying that a complaint had come that I had set a hut on fire, near Subbu’s house. I told them, ‘Sir, I have not done anything like that’. They brought my son also and said that I had only done it. They put an FIR also. Palthurai Inspector came and said, ‘Why don’t you just put a case on this woman and send her to Vellore [Vellore Jail]? Why are you keeping her here?’ Both my sons had to spend some Rs. 2000 to get me out. I was in the station till night. Then they said that the person who had burnt the hut was not me and that I could go.

***

To be contd.
Testimonies of others interviewed follow in the next posts.

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the nineteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Fact Finding report on the attack on Panchayat President Krishnaveni – Part II

Translation of the second portion of the report on ‘Murderous attack on the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni; Investigative field visit conducted by Collective of Socially Concerned Academicians, Writers and Human Rights Activists – Tirunelveli – on June 18-19, 2011′. Read the first portion here.

(Download the the entire Fact-Finding Report in Tamil here)

…

5. The immediate provocation for the murderous attack on 13.06.2011, Monday night, is said to be this: There has been a difference of opinion between the Panchayat President and the Ward Member Mr. Subramanian alias Subbu, who lives in West Thalaiyuthu, on the issue of building a public toilet on the canal poromboke land. Subbu had vehemently opposed the building of a toilet on land adjacent to the canal behind his house. Though Subbu and another Ward Member Meerankani had opposed this, members of the Konar caste and other castes living in that area were aware that a public toilet was needed for women and had chosen that location to build the toilet. The decision to build in the location chosen by the people had been taken after discussion at the Village Council Meeting.

Thinking that it was an insult to have a toilet built behind his house, Mr. Subbu had expressed constant opposition and had also complained about this to the district administration. One week before the incident, he had also obtained a stay on building a public toilet in that location. The district administration had taken this decision, citing a rule that buildings cannot be built in canal poromboke land. Opposing this decision, Mrs. Krishnaveni had gathered people of various communities and had submitted a petition on the morning of the day of the incident.

6. Despite knowing that the affected person belonged to the Hindu Arunthathiyar community, the Thalaiyuthu Inspector, who registered the F.I.R. (no. 213/11) after the murderous attack on the Panchayat President, did not file the case under the Prevention of Atrocities act but only filed it under such sections of the Indian Penal Code as 341, 294(b), 323, 307 and under Sec. 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act 2002. The day after the incident, the Athithamilar Peravai, Tamil Puligal and other human rights organisations held protests outside the Collectorate, as a result of which the F.I.R. was changed to the Prevention of Atrocities Act 3(2)(5) and sent to court. [341, 294(b), 323, 324, 307 IPC and Division 4 of TNPHW Act 2002 r/w 3(2)(5) of SC/ST (PoA) Act]

7. Police officials continue to view this attack purely as a law and order problem; they do not have a holistic view of this murderous attack with multiple facets. They express dissatisfaction with the fact that Mrs. Krishnaveni was extremely honest and did not take bribes. The belief that that this attack could have been prevented, if she had been a little crooked, is obvious.

8. Neither the Block Development Officer nor the District Collector went to hospital to see Mrs. Krishnaveni till 18.06.2011, despite the fact that she has survived such a murderous attack with multiple cut wounds, a lost ear and is still battling for life. This shows the lack of compassion of the government machinery (district administration).

9. Mrs. Krishnaveni is afraid now that there is insufficient protection for her and her family, despite her continuous honest and skilful administration. The fear that will arise in similar honest, skilful Panchayat Presidents who work for the people, other such representatives and government officials will pose a challenge to grassroots democracy, people’s participation and honest administration.

Recommendations:
1. The district administration and the police should immediately provide sufficient protection to the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni, who was subject to the murderous attack and belongs to the Arunthathiyar community, and her family. Armed guards should be provided, given the fact that there have been continual threats to her life earlier too.

2. The government has provided the compensation of Rs. 50,000 due to victims of atrocities under the Prevention of Atrocities act to Mrs. Krishnaveni two days ago. Keeping in mind the character and cruelty of this murderous attack, she should be given Rs. 3 lakh. Additional attention must be paid to her medical treatment and provisions must be made for her speedy recovery.

3. The police must take up a free and fair investigation into the multiple complaints that Mrs. Krishnaveni had filed earlier. Proper steps must be taken to follow-up such investigation soon.

4. The Thalaiyuthu Inspector K. Palthurai, who did not investigate any of the complaints that Mrs. Krishnaveni had filed over the last five years, should be transferred immediately. The department should take suitable disciplinary action on him.

5. The Tamil Nadu government should provide additional security to Panchayat Presidents/elected representatives from the downtrodden, Arunthathiyar communities and for female representatives in other regions of Tamil Nadu, especially in the southern districts.

6. In panchayats where the presidents are elected from the downtrodden communities, the vice-president post should also be reserved for such communities. Similarly, in panchayats where women from downtrodden communities are elected, the vice-president post should also be reserved for women of such communities. (In most places, such an arrangement would greatly speed up the implementation of schemes for the welfare of the people and ease the process of joint signing of cheques.)

…

To be contd.
Testimonies of others interviewed follows in the next part. Testimonies of Krishnaveni and her daughter are already available in translation.

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the eighteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

 

Fact Finding report on the attack on Panchayat President Krishnaveni – Part I

Translation of the first portion of the report on ‘Murderous attack on the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni; Investigative field visit conducted by Collective of Socially Concerned Academicians, Writers and Human Rights Activists – Tirunelveli – on June 18-19, 2011’(Download the the entire Fact-Finding Report in Tamil here)

Tirunelveli district, Manur Panchayat Union, Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni was hacked cruelly by a murderous gang on 13.06.2011, Monday night at 10 p.m., and was admitted, battling for life, to the Tirunelveli District Government Hospital. Ever since Mrs. Krishnaveni, who belongs to the downtrodden Arunthathiyar community, was elected as the Panchayat President, there have been continuous threats to her life.

To examine the reasons for and the background of this murderous attack, to learn the actions of the government administration and the police following this incident and to provide recommendations on how to prevent such terrible incidents occurring to dalit panchayat presidents, a group of socially concerned academicians, writers and human rights activists from Tirunelveli have undertaken a field study between June 18-19 to determine the facts of the case.

Members of this group:
1. Prof. T. Paramasivan, Senate member, Thanjavur Tamil University
2. Prof. J. Amalanathan, Economics Dept., St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai
3. Prof. P. Santhi, Visual Communications Dept., St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai
4. Mr. Lena Kumar, Yaathumaagi Publishers, Palayamkottai
5. Advocate G. Ramesh, District Committee Member, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Palayamkottai
6. Mr. S. Ganesan, Regional Coordinator, People’s Watch – Tamil Nadu
7. Advocate M. Britto, Director, Vanmugil, & Organiser, Thamiraparani Panbaattu Arangam
8. Mr. P. Mariappan, Coordinator, Vanmugil, Human Rights Activist

People interviewed during the field study
*Mrs. Krishnaveni (36), Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President
*Ms. Bhuvaneswari (16), (Krishnaveni’s daughter)
*Mrs. Chellamma (50), from the Nadar community, the one who took Krishnaveni in an auto to admit her to the Tirunelveli Government General Hospital
*Mr. Jayaraj (45), from the Arunthathiyar community, worker in the Sankar Cements factory
*Subbu Konar’s wife, West Thalaiyuthu
*50-year-old man (did not wish to reveal name)
*Mr. Meerankani(50), Panchayat Vice President
*Panchayat Plumber (Muslim)
*Mr. Subbiah (77), from the Nadar community (Has a teashop opposite the Karuppasamy temple)
*Owner of petty shop in North Thalaiyuthu (A woman from the Moopanar community)
*Woman who has a teashop near the location of the attack
*Youth from Gokulam Nagar, North Thalaiyuthu
*Mr. R. Prakash, Thalaiyuthu Police Inspector
*Mr. R. Balakrishnan, Thalaiyuthu Police Deputy Superintendent (investigating official)

On the morning of the first day of the field study (18.06.2011), details were collected through a meeting with Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni, who was attacked and has been admitted to the Tirunelveli Government General Hospital and is receiving treatment as an in-patient at the Intensive Care Unit. Following that, additional information about the incident was collected from Krishnaveni’s husband Mr. Poyyamani, her daughter Ms. Bhuvaneswari and the person who brought her to hospital in an auto, Mrs. Chellamma.

That evening, information was collected from many people in Thalaiyuthu about the incident and its background, with visits to the location where the incident took place (the path to Krishnaveni’s house, the street adjoining the library building) and the location chosen for building a public toilet which is said to be the immediate reason for the attack (Gokulam Nagar – near the canal).

The next day, Sunday (19.06.2011) noon, Inspector Prakash was interviewed at the Thalaiyuthu Police Station. Finally, on the morning of 24.06.2011, the investigating officer for this case, the Thalaiyuthu Police Deputy Superintendent In-charge Mr. R. Balakrishnan provided further details about the case. On the basis of the testimonies received during the field study, with the information gathered during these visits, this committee here places the details that were gathered and its recommendations to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.

Facts found during the field study:

1. Panchayat President Krishnaveni, who was attacked cruelly on 13.06.2011 (Monday) night, barely escaping with her life and now receiving treatment, has always acted with great honesty and courage. She had contested as an independent in the last Panchayat elections in Thalaiyuthu Panchayat and had won by a margin of 700 votes. In the last five years, she has actively taken up several schemes for the development of Thalaiyuthu panchayat. It is notable that she received the Sarojini Naidu award for 2009 from the hands of the Indian President Pratibha Patil for best implementation (among panchayats in the district) of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Many people of other castes praise her for this. Her remarkable courage and honesty and her astonishing ability and skill in administration are worthy of praise.

2. Her honest and efficient functioning as panchayat president angered some ward members belonging to other castes. They had continually objected to her methods of functioning which had ensured that they could not take bribes from the people, or ‘earn’ money in other ways. Their jealousy of a woman from the most oppressed Arunthathiyar community administering with such skill and their dominant caste arrogance found expression occasionally.

3. This had led to her receiving continual threats and opposition to her work over the past five years. Though she had widespread support from across communities, certain rich and well-connected individuals/ward members had continued to oppose her. Besides acting as blocks to the functioning of the panchayat president, this opposition also was an expression of dominant caste arrogance. To file complaints against the ward members and the vice-president who were not allowing her to carry out her duties over the past five years, she has given petitions to people including the Block Development Officer, Scheme Officer (Development), Police Inspector, District Police Superintendent and the Collector on 04.04.2007, 16.10.2007, 04.04.2008, 08.04.2008, 02.05.2008, 23.06.2008, 26.11.2008, 22.01.2009, 03.06.2010, and 15.08.2010.

On several occasions, these complaints were not investigated properly by the police. It is to be noted that the belief that ‘this woman is like this only, she will file Prevention of Atrocity cases and pester us for everything’, was prevalent. Though a few complaints were noted in the Thalaiyuthu Police Station as First Information Reports (FIRs), many others were left in cold storage with no action whatsoever.

4. It is possible to see the dominant caste arrogance prevalent among the ward members of other castes who are unable to accept that a woman of the Arunthathiyar community can bear political power and rule the Panchayat. These sedimented dominating tendencies of caste society are visible in the multiple attempts to prevent Panchayat President Krishnaveni from carrying out her duties. Grabbing the notebook with announcements which she brought to the Village Council meeting (26.01.2011), twisting her arm and threatening to beat her up, preventing her from hoisting the flag at an Independence Day celebration (15.08.2010), preventing her from carrying out welfare activities (08.04.2008) are some of the atrocities that are an expression of the casteist feeling that froths within the dominant castes. (This is reminscent of the situation a few years ago in this same Tirunelveli district, when Panchayat Presidents of Nakkalamuthanpatti, Jaggaiyan, and Maruthankinaru, Servaaran, who belonged to the Arunthathiyar community were murdered by members of the dominant castes. In a similar manner, 15 years ago, near Madurai, Panchayat President Mr. Murugesan and his six relatives were cruelly hacked to death.)

…

To be contd.

Further facts noted from the field visits and recommendations follow in the next part. Testimonies of Krishnaveni and her daughter from the latter part of this report are already available in translation.

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the seventeenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Reporting the murder of Servaaran

From the Fact-finding Investigation Report into the alleged murder of Servaaran a Dalit Panchayat president from Thirunelveli District, March 2007

Information from news paper reports and Dalit rights organisations revealed that Mr.Servaaran, a Dalit and newly elected village Panchayat President, aged around 65 years of Maruthankinaru Panchayat, Tirunelveli District, was allegedly murdered by upper caste Thevar people of the same panchayat. It is known that Mr.Harikrishnan (Thevar) husband of Ex-Panchayat President Ms.Poolammal had set up Servaaran to contest in the election so that he would function as a benami President. The present Vice-President of the Village Panchayat Sumathi (Thevar) and her husband Neliraja Rathinam due to a family dispute with Mr.Harikrishnan supported another dalit candidate Mr.Chelladurai (Pallar, Sub-caste) for the President’s post. But Servaaran won the president’s post in the election. Sumathi who was elected as Vice President did not want to work under a dalit (Arunthathiyar) President. She and her husband had on several occasions insulted Servaaran, Servaaran had filed two complaints against them in Panavadali Chathiram Police station. It is said that Sumathi and her husband threatened Servaaran with dire consequences for filing a complaint on them. On 19.2.07 around 5.30 am Servaaran was dead about 50 mtrs.from his residence.

Human Rights – Kalam, Tirunelveli, Human Rights Advocacy and Research Foundation (HRF) together with Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation (HRFDL) commissioned a Fact Finding Investigation into the death of Servaaran – Dalit Panchayat President, belonging to the Arundatiyar Community (Sub caste among Dalits) of Marthankinaru Panchayat, Kuruvikulam Panchayat Union, Tirunelveli District on 19.02.07.

…

Details about the Village:-

Maruthankinaru Panchayat comprises people from the Thevars caste, Pallars (dalit) and Arunthathiyars (dalit). Thevar comprises of more than 600 families, Pallars – 60 -70 families, and Arunthathiyars comprise of only 15 families. The village has a Primary School only. For High School the students have to travel to Sayamalai (3 kms away from the village) and for Higher Secondary School to Sankaran Koil (7 kms away)

The village does not have a Primary Health Care Centre. A village nurse comes once a week. To visit a hospital the villagers have to travel 4-7 Kms to Kalugumalai. There are some tiled houses (given under Government Group House Schemes) built during the previous term of panchayat council headed by Poolammal W/o.Harikrishnan’s wife. Only small area has been allotted for the burial of Arunthathiyars portion of that area occupied by Pallars. At a time only one or two dead bodies can be buried. The pathway to burial ground is very narrow and rough.

Arunthathiyars don’t have a separate place earmarked for toilet. They have to go to the Pallar’s area only. They don’t even have a place to dump their waste. They are working in land belonging to Thevars, and a few on the land owned by the Pallars. The women and the girls are working in the matchbox industry on a daily wage basis. They are get paid approximately Rs.40/-.per day.

The practice of two tumbler system is adopted in the tea shops. The son of Mr.Servaaran has completed ninth standard. Servaaran was working as an labourer in the lands owned by Thevars and Pallars. His son working as office assistant in St. Joseph Matric School, Nagercoil.

As Mr.Servaaran got his daughters married with less expenses. The third daughter Kaliammal (19years) is working in a match factory for daily wages (Rs.40 to 50 daily). Kaliammal’s daily wage is the only source of income for the family.

Details about the election:-

Ms.Poolammal W/o.Harikrishnan (Thevar) was the elected president of Maruthankinaru for the period from 1996-2006. Mr.Harikrishnan was working as a benami for Poolammal. The two groups of the dominant caste people supported two separate dalit candidates. Mr.Servaaran was supported by the groups lead by Mr.Harikrishnan. In 2006 Panchayat election Maruthankinaru’s Village Panchayat President seat was reserved for schedule caste. Thevar families in the village were divided into two groups. The other groups supported Mr. Chelladurai S/o Veerakumar who belongs to the Pallar sub-caste of the Dalit community. Servaaran, Chelladurai and Mookammal from Pallar Community contested for the post of President. Mr.Servaaran was elected as Panchayat President of Maruthankinaru by 509 votes. The following ward members and vice president were elected.

1.      Sumathi (Thevar) Vice President w/o Neeli Raja Rathinam
2.      Subramaniyam – Pallar (Ward Member)
3.      Ramuthaye   - Pallar (Ward Member)
4.      Perumal Thevar – Thevar (Ward Member)
5.      Velu – Konar (Ward Member)
6.      Thavashi – Thevar (Ward Member)

Mr.Servaaran was working as sweeper during the previous terms of Ms.Poolammal. He was also working in the house of the President.

Ms. Poolammal (Ex-President) wife of Harikrishnan contested for the post of ward member, but she lost to Sumathi (Present Vice President) by one vote.

About the incident:

Sumathi Vice-President is said to have an ongoing enmity with Mr. Harikrishnan. Harikrishnan is Neelarajaratinam’s (husband of Sumathi) uncle. The 2 families already are engaged in several property disputes. The report given to Mr.Servaaran by Harikrishnan angered Sumathi. After the elections, Sumathi and her husband threatened Mr.Servaaran on several occasions and demanded total obedience to Vice-President and to approve her administration in Panchayat Office. Mr.Servaaran was not even allowed to sit in his chair. Only when government officials visited the office, he was allowed to sit on the chair. Ms.Sumathi, Vice-President with the help of panchayat clerk P.Selvam voluntarily took incharge in executing panchayat development work.

Condemning the authoritative behaviour of Vice-President Sumathi and her husband Mr. Servaaran filed a complaint in Panavadali Chatiram Police Station on 27/12/2006 against Sumathi and her husband. When this act was questioned by Servaaran, they abused him using his caste name. Though the police refused to file Servaaran’s complaint, due to pressure later they filed it in CSR. The police comportment the case.

On 26.01.2007 Servaaran gave another complaint against Sumathi for keeping the purchased street lights in her custody. The also police didn’t register the case.

In there circumstances Mr. Servaaran was found dead while he went to in the early morning of 19.2.07. The dead body was found by a girl Kaliammal, a relative of Servaaran.

The D.S.P and inspector of Panavadalisathiram went to the spot and the body was sent to Sankarankovil Government Hospital for post mortem.
On 20.02.2007 morning and Mr.Servaaran’s family along with 300 people staged a dharna near Sankarankoil Government Hospital demanding that Mr.Servaaran’s death be recorded as murder in the FIR and arrest the murderers under SC & ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
On hearing the murder of Mr.Servaaran, M.Bharathan Director, KALAM, Mr.Mariadhoss, President Arunthathiyar Mahasaba, Mr.S.Vijayakumar, Advocate, Gowthaman and Sathiyantha Kumar rushed to the Hospital where post mortem was being done. They refused to receive the body of Servaaran and protested to make a change in the FIR from 174 CRPC into sec.302 IPC and PA Sec.3(2) (5) SC/ST Act. According to post mortem report the body suffered from several internal injuries and blood clotting in the blood vessels. It may have occured due to the shock of external attack. Cadres from DPI, Puthithamizhagam, Adithamizar Peravai, Immanuval Peravai, Arunthathiyar Democratic Front also took part in the struggle. The demands of this struggle at this stage were.

1.         Register the case under SC&ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 3(2) (5) SC/ST.
2.         Pay Rs.2 lakhs as compensation for the affected family.
3.         Mr.Raman S/o.Servaaran should be given a government job.
4.         Immediate arrest of culprits

***

Another excerpt from this report is online here. In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the sixteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Krishnaveni’s daughter speaks

Excerpted from the report on ‘Murderous attack on the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Mrs. Krishnaveni; Investigative field visit conducted by Collective of Socially Concerned Academicians, Writers and Human Rights Activists – Tirunelveli – on June 18-19, 2011’(Download the the entire Fact-Finding Report in Tamil here)

Bhuvaneswari, 16, Krishnaveni’s daughter

There have been problems ever since my mother became Panchayat President. Amma has never had good health. She has already been electrocuted once. She doesn’t eat properly. She never eats on time. She has fainted several times in office. Even if she is resting at home because she is not well, somebody will come seeking her signature. If I tell them that she is not well and is resting, the women who have come will scold loudly, within earshot, using caste names. To avoid this, my mother will come and sign.

No one has issued death threats to my mother so far. They have threatened her saying that they will hack and stab my father. Amma had always only been worried about Appa’s safety. She would be afraid about my going to and returning from school. She never expected that this would happen to her. Neither did we. That day, it had become very late for Amma to come. I had gone for tuition. It must have been around seven. Two people had come and asked my sister, ‘Is your father there?’ When she told them that Appa had gone for work, they asked her ‘Is your mother there?’. When she told them that Amma hadn’t returned and asked who they were, they replied that one of them wanted work and that his name was Raja. They left immediately.

Around 9.30 that night, two people had come to see Amma and were waiting. Since Amma had said on the phone that she had left office and was on the way, they were waiting. Around 9.30 – 9.45, we heard the sound of the auto. We came and waited at the threshold thinking that Amma had come. The auto did not come towards our house. Then we thought that it must have been some other auto and went back inside. The people who were waiting said that they would come back in the morning and left. We shut the door and went in to sleep. After some time, Chellamma came and knocked on the door and woke us up saying ‘Someone has stabbed your mother’. We ran to the nearby houses and asked for help. We called for nearby autos. None of them would come. Finally a person, who knew how to drive an auto, drove the same auto that Amma had been stabbed in to take us to hospital. They had been aiming for her neck while hacking at her. They had hacked her ear and face open, dragging the sickle across her neck. The chain around her neck had gone into the wound. They had also aimed for her bangle on her wrist, that was also driven into the bone. They had hacked her finger aiming for the ring. They say that a nerve has been cut on her thigh. I am afraid.

The people of the village heard of the incident the next day and gave a petition to the collector. They also came here and saw Amma. Now Amma is ok. She is able to talk a little. Yesterday, they took her with great difficulty to get X-rays. Now Amma is very afraid. She cries, saying, ‘They have hacked at me without caring that I am a woman, what is the fate of my husband and children’. I feel
bad.

When they hacked her, they clamped her mouth shut. They shut her eyes also, it seems. Amma says she saw the men and will be able to identify them. After studying till tenth standard, they are young men who drive earth moving machines, they are the ones who have surrendered, claiming to have hacked her. The day before the incident, people came and told us that they had met in Subbu Konar’s house for some discussion. Afterwards, people from the neighbouring houses also mentioned that there were some people conducting surveillance for the past three-four days before the incident. The day after the meeting, the young men had come without any weapons in their hands. They had borrowed sickles and knives from our neighbours, saying that they had to harvest the palmyra. Before Amma came that side, they had been messaging each other about where she was and how many people were about at the time.

Even now, my mother is not angry with the people who hacked her. In some rage, they had listened to what they were told and had hacked her. This should not have happened, but it has, is all that she says. Appa used to go with Amma to office sometimes. She had some protection then. That is why they transferred him out of town. If he is transferred, he won’t be able to go with Amma, that’s why. Already, once, when she was returning from the village council meeting, they grabbed her arm and twisted it, and it became swollen. Some Muslim men only had done this. If she had gone along with whatever they had wanted, there would have been no problem. Because she wanted to do good things for the people, this has happened. They say that the plan to build the toilet was why she was attacked. They say that the people who did this said, ‘Only if you are alive, you will build it. How will you build it, if you are dead?’

***

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the fifteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Dalit Women Panchayat Presidents in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu

Excerpts from ‘Dalit Women’s Right to Political Participation in Rural Panchayati Raj: A study of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu’ by Jayshree Mangubhai, Aloysius Irudayam sj & Emma Sydenham

Published by Justitia et Pax, The Netherlands, Institute of Development Education, Action and Studies, India and Equalinrights, The Netherlands, 2008

Research done in Collaboration with Navsarjan Trust, Gujarat and Evidence, Tamil Nadu

Read the report here[pdf file].

“More and more Dalit women should contest the elections and get elected to the panchayat, and help the Dalit community become liberated from their bondage. Like the dominant castes, the Dalits should join hands with other Dalit sub-groups and stand together against the dominant castes. They should be able to work independently in the panchayats and stop being proxies for the dominant castes. We Dalits need to focus on our progress, throwing off our subordination.”

- Annammal, village panchayat President in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu

“Reservation has meant little difference other than formal elections: it has not meant any real change for women other than their ability to move outside the house.”

- Dalit women elected representatives, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat

…

“In the patriarchal system, there are lots of struggles for women to win the election. And within the system, Dalit women have to struggle more than other women. It is very difficult for them to win the election because nobody believes that they have the ability to carry out panchayat works. Everyone plays politics with them and against them just because they – dominant castes and men – never want Dalit women to control the panchayat administration…. Men never accept women’s leadership and there is a need for specific attention to this by making proper use of the reservation policy as Babasaheb’s blessing to us. Dalit women have to reap the benefits of this opportunity by actively engaging themselves in creating models of leadership.”

- Lakshmiben, village panchayat President, Vadodara district, Gujarat

…

“Being the majority, the dominant castes could not accept the idea of being under a ‘low’ caste Dalit leader. So, for namesake they made me, a Dalit, the President. The dominant caste Vice President and other dominant caste members took away from me all powers and responsibilities. I did not even convene a meeting. I went to the panchayat office only when I was asked to go… I functioned like this because I have no education and belong to a low caste. Though I was given training, I was in such a situation that I could not do anything at all. We cannot speak against the dominant caste men. Even the [government] officials do not care for us. When they come to the village or panchayat office, they do not force us to come and attend the meetings. They simply speak with the Vice President, deal official business with him and then leave the place. How can Dalits function well in such a situation?”

- Thilagam, village panchayat President, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu

…

“As we are Dalits and women, we are forced to bear the brunt of double discrimination unlike our male counterparts… Other members of the panchayat do not give respect to us because we are born Dalit and female; they will even go to the extent of working against us. The dominant caste men do not let a Dalit woman function because of their wrong view that women are good for nothing, that they are simply proxies, that they cannot be permitted to involve in public life and if they do, then they are immoral women. They subject us to such discrimination precisely because they cannot bear the sight of a Dalit woman occupying a position of governance over them… In general we can say that Dalit women are forced to encounter more problems and more opposition than Dalit men, dominant caste men and women. That is to say, for a dominant caste woman, it is only her husband or a male member of her caste who can be a source of irritation, pressure and obstacles. But for a Dalit woman, such opposition comes from Dalit men, dominant caste men and women. She has to encounter three sources of obstructions. What is the reason? It is simply their anti-Dalit woman mindset; that is, these three sets of people are of the view that a Dalit woman is someone who need not be given any importance on any matter
and hence can easily be dispensed with, who is incapable of asserting herself, who is ever submissive and patient, whatever is done or happens to her.”

Dalit women elected representatives in Thirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu

…

“Women’s participation, Dalit women’s in particular, in the panchayats is necessary so that society can develop. Only women will think about women’s issues. Only Dalit women can respond to and take a stand on Dalit issues and particularly on Dalit women’s issues. In as much as Dalit women’s participation is required, they also need to be given support and
guidance. Then only can they become capable representatives… Nothing is attainable without exercising authority, and my desire is to increase the confidence of Dalits to fight and gain authority and power in society for their development.”

- Ramilaben, taluka panchayat President, Vadodara district, Gujarat

“[Dalit women’s political participation] is necessary for the Dalit community and its development, because if a Dalit woman comes then she will work for the Dalit community and Dalit women. Other castes will never work for the Dalit community. Moreover, they will eat up the money which comes under Dalit grants.”

- Jasodaben, village panchayat President, Surendranagar district, Gujarat

***

Read the report here[pdf file].

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the fourteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

Announcing a Murder

A fact-finding report inquiring into the murder of dalit Panchayat President Jaggaiyan had also warned that the life of Maruthankinaru Servaaran was in danger (see list at the end of this post). No action was taken and he was killed shortly after. Chellamma is also mentioned. Dalit Panchayat President Krishnaveni was part of this fact-finding team as organiser of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Government. She had filed several complaints about threats to her life and obstacles to her functioning as President. No action was taken and she is currently battling for life in hospital.

An excerpt from the report – Pappa’s testimony – is here. Further edited excerpts from the report follow…

Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Goverment conducted a Fact–Finding investigation into the murder of Jaggaiyan – Dalit Panchayat President, belonging to the Arundatiyar Community (Sub-Caste among Dalits), Nakkalamuthanpatti Panchayat, Kuruvikulam Panchayat Union, Tirunelveli District on  22.11.2006.

…

Murthy (Relative of Jaggaiyan):-

I am residing at Nakkalamuthanpatti South colony with my family. I am an agricultural labourer, belonging to Sakkilian community (Arunthathiyar). Jaggan, who belongs to our Street, won as Panchayat President in the election. Thirupathi Raj alias Thirupathi S/o Ramawamy Naicker won the Vice President election. In the previous election, Thirupathi Raj’s wife Regina Mary was the Pachayat President.  Vice President Thirupati Raja insisted President Jaggan to follow his words.

On 18.11.06 around 9’o clock, Jaggan, his wife Arumugam alias Pappa, my brother who is Sitherampatti Village Headman, Paramasivam, and I were talking in front of the Panchayat Office. Thirupatti Raj and his wife Regina Mary came and abused and threatened Jaggan using foul language and ordered that he should follow their instructions in running the Panchayat, if not “we will kill you and no one will support you”.

Again on 20.11.06, I came to know that around evening 6’o clock Thirupathi Raj and his wife Regina Mary came to our street and threatened Jaggan and his wife Arumugam offering them cash of Rs.10000/- as bribe for not asking questions about old accounts but Arumugam refused. She feared that her husband’s life is in threat from the Vice President.

On 22.11.06 approximately at 6.30 am,  President Jaggaiyan, his wife Arumugam, Jaggan’s brother Srinivansan and myself all standing were in front of Panchayat Office. After talking for a while, Jaggan went on his cycle to drink tea in Chippiparai – As soon as gone about 100 meters, I saw Jaggaiyan being beaten by Thirupathi Raj and his wife Regina Mary suddenly appeared with wooden log, came and stopped Jaggan  and immediately started hitting him. Jaggan’s head was badly injured, Jaggan tried to stop them with his left hand. Thirupathi with his wooden log again smashed that left ear side and Jaggan, bleeding from his left ear, fell down on the ground, Thirupathi again hit him on his head. They fled throwing the wooden log. By this time, Jaggan was dead.  At the same time, my brother Paramasivam and Jaggan’s wife Arumugam ran to him. They then went to give complaint at Thiruvengadam Police Station.

V. Findings

1. The Fact Finding team concludes that after examining all evidence before it that the murder of Jaggaiyan Panchayat President of Nakkalamuthanpatti Panchayat was committed by Thirupathi Raj and Regina Mary at around 6.00 a.m in the most brutal fashion.

2. The Police under directions from their superior officers have taken all steps to charge sheet the accused under IPC SectionS 341, 302, Sec 3 (1) (X) and Sec3(2)(V) of SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989. The charge sheet has been filed and the evidence statement in the presence of the Judicial Magistrate Court, Sivagiri was recorded on 28.12.2006.

3. After the Constitution 73rd Amendment this is the 3rd Election for Panchayats in Tamil Nadu. The previous elections were held in 1996 and 2001. In 2001 the Government did not pass orders for rotation of reserved seats for Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and Women. Accordingly there was some measure of consolidation of independents and identity of elected Panchayat Members from among the dalits and women with DMK Government opting to put on rotation the reserve seat the dominant caste groups have use this occasion to support and finance candidates from among the weaker dalit communities in order to be able to disempower them and make them subservient for their control over the panchayat government. Jaggaiyan’s case is one among the several panchayats presidents who have been elected in reserved constituencies supported by Dominant caste votes. In Jaggaiyans case he attempted to rebel and even this was not tolerable to the dominant kama naidus (naickers) and hence he was murdered by the same Vice-President of the Panchayat who financed his election. Interestingly the Vice-President Mr.Thirupathi Raja’s wife was the previous panchayat president and he functioned as the defacto president.

4. The quality of life and economic and social status of dalits especially among the minority sub-caste Arunthathiyar community has not improved as can be seen from this panchayat. They do not have access to portable drinking water, street lights and are totally landless dependent on the kama naidus who are the land owners.

5. District Government officials and  Police officials have made no effort in Tirunelveli District to provide protection to the vulnerable dalit panchayat presidents. There is no plan by the Government of Tamil Nadu to provide them with special awareness programmes about their rights on priority basis, land distribution of cultivable lands and ineffective use of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Dalit Panchayat Presidents continue to live in insecurity.

6. Very often it is noticed that the unity of Pallar, Paraiyan and Arunthathiyar are very fragile in this panchayat. The kama naidus chose not to put up dalit candidates from among the Pallars. As they were more knowledgeable assertive and owned small pieces of cultivable land. While the Pallars are not totally dependent on the dominant caste the Arunthathiyar are dependent on the land owners for their survival.

7. From evidence gathered from us during our fact finding investigation, we consolidated the following list of Dalit Panchayat Presidents who were functioning on the orders of the Dominant Caste groups and facing severe discrimination, humiliation and inequality.

 

…

Sl.No.	Name of Panchayat	Elected Panchayat President & Address	Caste
1.	Appaneri	Ms.ChellammalW/o.Seenu3/9, Keela Street,Appaneri.	SC (Paraiyar)
2.	Ayyaneri	Mr.M.Karuppasamy,S/o.MariappanSouth Street,Ayyaneri.	SC (Pallar)
3.	Chithirampatti	Vs.S.ValliammalKeela Street,Chithirampatti.	SC (Paraiyar)
4.	Ilaiarasanenthal	Mr.S.SundararajIlaiarasanenthal	SC (Paraiyar)
5.	Ramalingapuram	Mr.P.GanesanRamalingapuram	SC (Sakkiliar)
6.	Vadakkuppatti	Ms.ChinnapandiammalVaakkupatti.	SC (Paraiyar)
7.	Maruthankinaru	Mr.M.ServaranMaruthan Kinaru	SC (Sakkiliar)

***

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the thirteenth in a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy.

‘In six months of being president, I have only sat twice in the chair’

M. Ponnusamy, May 2008

Read the full article in Tamil here.
முழு கட்டுரை இங்கே
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எத்தனையோ தலித் மக்களை காவு வாங்கிய நெல்லை மண் – மீண்டும் தொடர்ந்து காவு வாங்கிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. கடந்த நான்கு மாதத்திற்குள் இரண்டு தலித் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர்கள் சாதி இந்துக்களால் திட்டமிட்டு கொலை செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர். எதிர்த்து கேள்வி கேட்ட காரணத்திற்காக 22.11.2006 அன்று நக்கலமுத்தன்பட்டி பஞ்சயாத்து தலைவர் ப. ஜக்கன் துணைத் தலைவர் ரெஜினாமேரி உதவியோடு கூலிப்படைகளால் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டார். இந்த சம்பவம் நடந்த அடுத்த இரண்டு மாதங்களிலேயே குருவி குளம் ஊராட்சி ஒன்றியத்தைச் சேர்ந்த மருதன் கிணறு பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர் சேர்வாரன் 19.2.2007 அன்று அதிகாலையில், அதே கிராமத்தின் சாதி இந்துக்களால் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டார்.

The earth of Nellai district, that has received so many dalit lives as sacrifice, continues to receive these sacrifices. In the last four months, two Dalit panchayat presidents have been killed by scheming caste Hindus. For having asked questions, on 22.11.2006, Nakkulamuthanpatti Panchayat President P. Jaggan was murdered by wage labourers assisted by vice-president Regina Mary. Within two months of this incident, in the Kuruvikulam Panchayat Union, Maruthankinaru Panchayat President Servaaran was killed in the dawn of 19.2.2007 by caste Hindus of the same village.

பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவரான பிறகும்கூட சேர்வாரன், பஞ்சாயத்து அலுவலகத்தைப் பெருக்கி, கழுவி, சுத்தம் செய்யும் துப்புரவுப் பணி யாளராகவே இருக்க கட்டாயப்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளார். வட்டார ஊராட்சி அலுவலகத்திலிருந்து அதிகாரிகள் வந்தபோது, சனவரி மாதம் நடந்த கூட்டத்தில்தான் ஒரே ஒருமுறை மட்டும் அவர் நாற்காலியில் உட்கார்ந்து இருக்கிறார். தன்னைக் கேட்காமல் முடிவெடுப்பதால் உதவி தலைவரும், அவருடைய கணவரும், ‘ஏண்டா சக்கிலியப் பயலே உனக்கெல்லாம் நாங்க பதில் சொல்லணுமோ, நீ கையெழுத்துப் போட்டாதான் நாங்க வேலை செய்யணுமா, இருலே உன்ன என்ன செய்யறேன்னு பாரு’ என்று தொடர்ந்து மிரட்டப்பட்டுள்ளார். ‘எந்த நேரமும் ஆபத்து வரலாம், எந்த நேரமும் என்னைக் கொன்னாலும், கொன்னுருவாங்கன்னு’ தன் மனைவி மற்றும் மகளிடம் கூறியுள்ளார் சேர்வாரன். அது அப்படியே நடந்தேறியது.

Even after becoming Panchayat President, Servaaran was forced to remain the sweeper at the Panchayat Officer, sweeping, swabbing and cleaning up the place. He was allowed to sit in the chair only once, when the block development officers came and held a meeting in January. When he took decisions on his own, the vice-president and her husband continually threatened and abused him, ‘Hey you Sakkili fellow, do we have to answer to you? Do we have to have to work only after you sign? See what we will do to you!’ Servaaran told his wife and daughter, ‘Danger can approach at any time, I might be killed at any time’. It happened as he predicted.

இந்தப் படுகொலைகள் குறித்து மனித உரிமை அமைப்புகள் மற்றும் மனித உரிமை மேம்பாட்டு ஆராய்ச்சி அமைப்பு, தலித் விடுதலைக்கான அமைப்பு ஆகியவை சார்பாக வழக்கறிஞர் கமலா கஸ்தூரி, கிருஷ்ணவேணி, பரதன், முத்துமாரி ஆகியோர் அடங்கிய உண்மையறியும் குழு – “சேர்வாரன் மரணம் இயற்கையல்ல, திட்டமிட்ட படுகொலைதான்’ என்று கூறியுள்ளது. 30.3.2007 அன்று சென்னையில் பத்திரிகையாளர்களை சந்தித்த உண்மையறியும் குழுவினர் பல அதிர்ச்சியூட்டும் தகவல்களைப் பகிர்ந்து கொண்டனர். இதோடு உயிருக்கு உத்திரவாதமின்றி, பயம் கலந்த முகத்தோடு தாங்கள் நடத்தப் படுகின்ற நிலையைப் பகிர்ந்து கொண்ட தேவர்குளம் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர் ச. தங்கவேலு அவர்களையும், நவநீத கிருஷ்ணபுரம் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர் சூ. குருசாமி அவர்களையும் – ‘தலித் முரசு’ சார்பில் சந்தித்தபோது, தங்களுடைய ஆதங்கத்தைப் பகிர்ந்து கொண்டனர்:

On behalf of human rights organisations, Human Rights Advocacy and Research Foundation and Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation, advocate Kamala Kasthuri, Krishnaveni, Barathan and Muthumari went as a fact-finding team which said, ‘Servaaran’s death is not natural but a planned murder.’ Team members, who met journalists on 30.3.2007 in Chennai, shared several shocking pieces of information. On behalf of Dalit Murasu we met the panchayat presidents of Thevarkulam, S. Thangavelu, and of Navaneetha Krishnapuram, S. Gurusamy. Without guarantee to life, with fear writ large on their faces, they shared their concerns with us:

‘திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டம், தேவர்குளம் பஞ்சாயத்துத் தலைவரா நான் இருக்கேன். தலைவரு ஆவதற்கு முன்னாடி கூலி வேல செஞ்சிட்டு சந்தோசமா இருந்தேன். ஆனதற்குப் பிறகு எப்ப சாவேன்னு பயத்தோட வாழ்ந்துகிட்டிருக்கேன். செல்லச்சாமி ரெட்டியாருதான் உதவி தலைவரு, வெள்ளத்துரை ரெட்டியாருதான் கிளார்க். இவங்க பக்கத்துல நின்னு பேசவே முடியாது. தூரமாகத்தான் நிக்கனும். எந்த மீட்டிங் நடந்தாலும் எனக்கு சொல்ல மாட்டாங்க. எனக்கு படிப்பறிவு கிடையாது. ஆனா, கிளார்க் கையெழுத்து மட்டும் போட கூப்பிடுவாரு. வார்டு மெம்பரு, உதவித் தலைவரு, கிளார்க் எல்லாரும் ஏலே தங்கவேலு, இங்க வா, போன்னுதான் கூப்பிடுவாங்க. ஆபிசுல ஒரு ஓரத்துலதான் உட்காரச் சொல்லுவாங்க. நான் பிரசிடெண்ட் ஆகி 6 மாசத்துல, 2 தடவ தான் சேர்ல உக்காந்திருக்கேன். அதுவும் அதிகாரிக வந்தப்பதான். செக்ல கையெழுத்துப் போடும்போது மட்டும்தான் கிளார்க் பேசுவாரு. என்ன, ஏதுன்னு கேட்டா கோபப்படுற மாதிரி பேசுவாரு. அதனால நான் எதுவும் கேட்குறதில்ல. நக்கலமுத்தன்பட்டி தலைவரு ஜக்கனும், மருதன் கிணறு தலைவரு சேர்வாரனும் இறந்த பிறகு ரொம்ப பயமா இருக்கு. 12 அருந்ததிய தலைவர்கள்ள இரண்டு பேர் போயிட்டாங்க. இன்னும் பத்து பேரு இருக்கோம். யாருக்கு எப்ப நாள் குறிச்சிருக்காங்கன்னு தெரியாது.’

‘I am Panchayat President of Thevarkulam in Tirunelveli district. I was a daily wage labourer before becoming president. I was happy. After becoming President, I live with the fear of dying at any time. Chellasamy Reddiar is the vice-president. Velladurai Reddiar is the clerk. I cannot stand near them and talk. I should stand at a distance only. They will never tell me if there is a meeting scheduled. I am not educated. The clerk will call me only to get my signature. The ward members, the vice-president, the clerk, all call me ‘Hey Thangavelu’ and order me around ‘come, go’ without any respect. They will tell me to sit in one corner of the office. In six months of being president, I have only sat twice in the chair. That too only when the officials came. The clerk talks to me only when my signature is needed in the cheque. If I ask what it is for, he will talk insultingly. So I don’t ask anything. After Nakkulamuthanpatti president Jaggan and Maruthankinaru Servaaran have died, I am very afraid. Of the 12 Arunthathiyar leaders, two have gone. Ten of us remain. We don’t know what dates they have marked out and for which of us.’

‘எம் பேரு குருசாமி. நான் நவநீத கிருஷ்ணபுரம் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவரா இருக்கேன். நான் ஒன்பதுவரைக்கும் படிச்சிருக்கேன். நான் பொம்மைதான். எனக்கு எந்த பவரும் கிடையாது. எல்லாமே உதவி தலைவருக்கும், கிளார்க்குக்கும்தான். நான் என்ன சொன்னாலும் கேட்க மாட்டாங்க. மரியாதைங்கிற பேச்சுக்கே இடம் கிடையாது. ஆபிசு சாவி கிளார்க்கிட்டதான் இருக்கும். இன்னொரு சாவி எங்கன்னு கேட்டா, ஒரு சாவிதான்னு சொல்வாரு. ஆபிச கிளார்க் திறக்க மாட்டாரு. நான் தான் ஆபிச திறக்கனும். ஆனா, சாவிக்காக கிளார்க் வீட்டு வாசல்ல காத்துக் கிடக்கனும். அவரு வீட்டு வேலையை முடிச்ச பிறகுதான் எடுத்துத் தருவாரு.

‘My name is Gurusamy. I am Panchayat President of Navaneetha Krishnapuram. I have studied till ninth standard. I am only a puppet. I don’t have any power. It all belongs to the vice-president and clerk. They will not listen to anything I say. There is no room for talk about respect. The office key is with the clerk. If I ask where the other key is, he will say that there is only one key. He won’t open the office. I am the one who is supposed to open the office. But I have to wait at the threshold of the clerk’s house for the key. He will give me the key only after finishing his housework.

எனக்கு ஆபிசு செட்டப்பே இல்ல. நான் என்ன சொன்னாலும் எடுபடாது. என் ஆபிசுல ஒரு சேர், பழைய டேபிள், அது போக ரூம்ல பழைய டியூப் லைட்கள், வேஸ்ட் பேப்பர்கள், பிளாஸ்டிக், இரும்பு பொருள்கள்தான் இருக்கும். அங்கதான் உட்காரனும். பீரோ, நல்ல சேர், டேபிள் எல்லாமே கிளார்க், உதவி தலைவர் ரூம்லதான். கையெழுத்துப் போட மட்டும்தான் கூப்பிடுவாங்க. அதுவும் தீர்மான நோட்டுல பேசப்பட்டது எதுவும் எழுதாம, இடைவெளி விட்டுதான் கையெழுத்துப் போடச் சொல்வாங்க. ஏன் எழுதலன்னு கேட்டா, உன் சொத்த ஒன்னும் அபகரிக்க மாட்டோம், கையெழுத்துப் போடுன்னு சொல்வாங்க. நம்ம எதுவும் கேட்க முடியாது. கேட்டா உசுரோட இருக்க முடியாது.

I don’t have an office set-up. Nothing that I say will be taken up. In my officer, there is a chair, an old table, old tubelights, waste paper, plastic and iron things. I have to sit in that room only. The bureau, the good chair and table are all in the clerk and vice-president’s room. They only call me to sign. They will not write anything in the resolutions notebook and ask me to sign after a blank space. If I ask why they haven’t written anything, they will say, we won’t steal your property, just sign. I cannot ask anything. If I ask, I cannot stay alive.

உதவித் தலைவரும், கிளார்க்கும் வந்து நம்ம ஊரு மயான கரைக்கு ரோடு போடனுமின்னு சொல்லி, செக்குல கையெழுத்துப் போடச் சொன்னாங்க. நானும் கையெழுத்துப் போட்டேன். ஆனா கடைசியில ரெட்டியார் மயானக் கரைக்கு 2 கி.மீ. தூரம் ரோடு போட்டாங்க. அதிலிருந்து அரை கி.மீ. தூரம் இருக்கிற அருந்ததியர் மயானக் கரைக்கு ரோடு போடல. கேட்டா ஓடையில இறங்கி போய் எரிங்கன்னு சொல்லிட்டாரு. திடீரென்று கிளார்க் ஒரு நாள் 500 ரூபாவுக்கு கையெழுத்து போடச் சொன்னாரு. என்ன என்று கேட்டா, பழைய பிரசிடெண்டுக்கு சம்பள பாக்கின்னு சொன்னாரு. ஆனா அதுல 470 ரூபாய் பில்லத்தான் வச்சாரு. இதையெல்லாம் எதிர்த்து கேட்க முடியாது.

The vice-president and clerk asked me to sign a cheque, telling me that a road had to be laid to the cremation grounds of our village. I signed. Finally, they laid a road for two kilometres up to the Reddiar cremation ground. They didn’t lay the road to the Arunthathiyar cremation ground that is half kilometre away from it. When we asked, he said, you can go into the canal and burn the bodies. Suddenly the clerk asked me to sign a cheque for Rs. 500. When I asked what it was for, he said it was the salary arrears for the earlier panchayat president. Finally, he placed a bill for Rs. 470 only. I cannot ask anything against these things.

எனக்கு நவநீத கிருஷ்ணபுரத்துலேயே வீடு வாசல் இருக்கு. ஆனா, நக்கலமுத்தன்பட்டி ஜக்கன் சாரும், மருதன் கிணறு சேர்வாரன் சாரும் அடிச்சு கொல்லப்பட்டதற்கு அப்புறம் இங்க இருக்க முடியல. 15 கி.மீ. தூரத்துல இருக்குற பாவூர் சத்திரத்துல குடியிருக்கேன். சொந்த ஊருல இருக்க பயமா இருக்கு. கடந்த 26 ஆம் தேதி 10 அருந்ததிய பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர்கள் சேர்ந்து கலெக்டரிடம் பாதுகாப்புக் கோரி மனுக் கொடுத்தோம். ஆனா, இன்னைக்கு காலையில ராமலிங்கபுரம் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவர மேல்சாதிக்காரங்க அடிச்சிருக்காங்க. இன்னும் நவநீதகிருஷ்ணபுரத்துல ரெண்டு டம்ளர் முறை இருக்கத்தான் செய்யுது. நான் பஞ்சாயத்து தலைவரா ஆகி ஒண்ணும் கேட்க முடியலை. எப்ப என்ன நடக்குமின்னு பயந்துகிட்டிருக்கோம்.’

I have a house in Navaneetha Krishnapuram. But after Nakkalamuthanpatti Jaggan sir and Maruthankinaru Servaaran sir were beaten to death, I am unable to stay here. I stay in Pavur Chathiram which is 15 kilometres away. I am afraid to stay in my native village. On the 26th, ten Arunthathiya Panchayat Presidents asked the collector for protection for our lives. This morning, the Ramalingapuam Panchayat President was beaten up by people from the dominant caste. The two-tumbler system continues to be practised in Navaneethakrishnapuram. I have not been able to question anything after becoming President. We don’t know what will happen when, we are afraid.’

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In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the twelfth of a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy. The Arunthathiyar Human Rights Federation’s statement on the issue is here and a poem by SRaj is here. There is also an interview with Panchayat President Krishnaveni, a fact-finding report on discrimination faced by Dalit Panchayat Presidents, a personal narrative from Jayanthi and Chellamma,  a complaint that murdered Dalit Panchayat President Jaggaiyan had written, and testimonies from the wife and son of murdered Panchayat President Servaaran. Ravichandran has written about responses to the attack on Panchayat President Krishnaveni. Here is a picture of Krishnaveni in Delhi.

Krishnaveni in Delhi

Krishnaveni (first from left) has received several awards for good governance. At an event in Delhi with Sonia Gandhi

 

Read an interview with Krishnaveni here. In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, this is the eleventh of a series of posts about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy. The Arunthathiyar Human Rights Federation’s statement on the issue is here and a poem by SRaj is here. There is also a fact-finding report on discrimination faced by Dalit Panchayat Presidents, a personal narrative from Jayanthi and Chellamma,  a complaint that murdered Dalit Panchayat President Jaggaiyan had written, and testimonies from the wife and son of murdered Panchayat President Servaaran. Ravichandran has written about responses to the attack on Panchayat President Krishnaveni.