C. Displacement of Dalit Villagers
In
villages where Dalits constitute a minority, caste clashes have led to
large-scale displacements of Dalit communities. The displacement often follows
an attack by neighboring caste Hindu villagers in which Dalits are assaulted
and their houses are burned. In some cases, beyond ignoring repeated calls for
protection, police have directly aided in the displacement. Dalit fields are
then taken over by the majority caste Hindu communities while displaced villagers
languish in makeshift homes on government property for months. Aside from
distributing nominal amounts in compensation or promising construction of new
houses, the local administration does little to ensure that the Dalits are able
to return to their homes and fields, or to prosecute those responsible for the
attacks. Two examples of displacement are described below.
Mangapuram
The village of Mangapuram, part of Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district, once housed 3,000 Thevar and 250 Pallar (Dalit) families. On March 7, 1996, upon returning from a conference organized by Dr. Krishnaswamy, several Pallars were assaulted by Thevars in this village. Following the attack, 150 Pallar houses were set on fire; a Pallar resident of the village was thrown into the fire and burned alive. Soon after the incident the Pallars rebuilt their houses and continued to reside in the village. Tensions in the village increased in May 1997 with the renaming of the transport corporation. Escalating tensions led the Pallars to request police protection in early May 1997. Several police officers were deployed in the area as a result. On May 12, 1997, in renewed violence, Pallars destroyed several Thevar houses; ten were promptly arrested. Thevars retaliated on May 15 by throwing petrol bombs into the Pallar residential area.
The village of Mangapuram, part of Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district, once housed 3,000 Thevar and 250 Pallar (Dalit) families. On March 7, 1996, upon returning from a conference organized by Dr. Krishnaswamy, several Pallars were assaulted by Thevars in this village. Following the attack, 150 Pallar houses were set on fire; a Pallar resident of the village was thrown into the fire and burned alive. Soon after the incident the Pallars rebuilt their houses and continued to reside in the village. Tensions in the village increased in May 1997 with the renaming of the transport corporation. Escalating tensions led the Pallars to request police protection in early May 1997. Several police officers were deployed in the area as a result. On May 12, 1997, in renewed violence, Pallars destroyed several Thevar houses; ten were promptly arrested. Thevars retaliated on May 15 by throwing petrol bombs into the Pallar residential area.
On
June 9, 1997, Pallar villagers asked the district collector to provide them
with adequate protection against future Thevar attacks. The collector was
unsympathetic. On June 10, the deputy superintendent of police, a Thevar,
attempted to force Pallars out of the village. On the same day, hundreds of
Thevar villagers attacked the Pallars and set their houses on fire. As most of
their houses had burned to the ground, the Pallars took refuge in nearby
villages.
In February 1998 Human Rights Watch visited the area where displaced Pallar families had taken shelter and where they remained eight months after the incident. An area just over three acres in size, literally adjacent to Mangapuram village, housed more than 350 people in 200 poorly constructed huts. An adjoining area housed over 200 people in seventy huts. Families with over four members, many with small children, were made to live in huts approximately thirty-five square feet in size. The small spheres of public space were used for cattle and makeshift latrines. Most families were left without a source of income, and there was little word from the government about returning them to their village. No action was taken against the Thevars responsible for the attacks or against police officials complicit in allowing the displacement to occur. Many villagers still bore scars, which they attributed to lathi attacks by police officers who took part in the displacement.
In February 1998 Human Rights Watch visited the area where displaced Pallar families had taken shelter and where they remained eight months after the incident. An area just over three acres in size, literally adjacent to Mangapuram village, housed more than 350 people in 200 poorly constructed huts. An adjoining area housed over 200 people in seventy huts. Families with over four members, many with small children, were made to live in huts approximately thirty-five square feet in size. The small spheres of public space were used for cattle and makeshift latrines. Most families were left without a source of income, and there was little word from the government about returning them to their village. No action was taken against the Thevars responsible for the attacks or against police officials complicit in allowing the displacement to occur. Many villagers still bore scars, which they attributed to lathi attacks by police officers who took part in the displacement.
Rengappanaikkanpatti
Before 1997 the village of Rengappanaikkanpatti, situated in Virudhunagar district, was a minority-Pallar, majority-Thevar village. The Thevars comprised nearly 400 families. Among the thirty Pallar families who lived there at the time, many owned agricultural lands and brick houses, a clear indication of their relative prosperity and reportedly a motivation for the attack. On June 13, 1996, when Dr. Krishnaswamy visited the village, Thevars threw stones at his vehicle and five days later disconnected street lights and threw bombs into the Pallar settlement. When the incident was reported to the sub-inspector of the Rajakularaman police station, he refused to register the complaint. On May 12, 1997, the Thevars of Rengappanaikkanpatti, together with Thevars from a nearby village, set fire to Pallar houses. The fire also destroyed farm lands, coconut groves, and motor pumps. After the attack, which lasted four hours, Pallars took refuge in the neighboring village of Sholapuram and asked the government to provide them with housing facilities. Human Rights Watch spoke to members of a family of eleven who were still residing on government property in Sholapuram village nine months after the attack. Dharmalingam, the seventy-five-year-old head of the family, stated: Nearly twenty houses were burned down. We were an easy target because we were a minority in the village. Only three houses were spared. Our house is still there; it’s very strong. They stole the motor pump set and motor oil from the garden... We cannot go back to our house, they will beat us. We have our own field, four acres in all. But we won’t go to the house. We had six rooms, a kitchen and a common room. Now look at us.
Before 1997 the village of Rengappanaikkanpatti, situated in Virudhunagar district, was a minority-Pallar, majority-Thevar village. The Thevars comprised nearly 400 families. Among the thirty Pallar families who lived there at the time, many owned agricultural lands and brick houses, a clear indication of their relative prosperity and reportedly a motivation for the attack. On June 13, 1996, when Dr. Krishnaswamy visited the village, Thevars threw stones at his vehicle and five days later disconnected street lights and threw bombs into the Pallar settlement. When the incident was reported to the sub-inspector of the Rajakularaman police station, he refused to register the complaint. On May 12, 1997, the Thevars of Rengappanaikkanpatti, together with Thevars from a nearby village, set fire to Pallar houses. The fire also destroyed farm lands, coconut groves, and motor pumps. After the attack, which lasted four hours, Pallars took refuge in the neighboring village of Sholapuram and asked the government to provide them with housing facilities. Human Rights Watch spoke to members of a family of eleven who were still residing on government property in Sholapuram village nine months after the attack. Dharmalingam, the seventy-five-year-old head of the family, stated: Nearly twenty houses were burned down. We were an easy target because we were a minority in the village. Only three houses were spared. Our house is still there; it’s very strong. They stole the motor pump set and motor oil from the garden... We cannot go back to our house, they will beat us. We have our own field, four acres in all. But we won’t go to the house. We had six rooms, a kitchen and a common room. Now look at us.
At
the time of the interviews, the family lived in a community hall that earlier
had sheltered thirty Pallar families for the village. Valliamai, Dharmalingam’s
sixty-five-year-old wife, lamented, “We had such a big house but see our fate
now. One of my grandsons is handicapped. The government had to give him a new
wheelchair; even that they damaged.” Although the government gave the family
Rs. 10,000 (US$250) in compensation, the amount covered very little of what
they had lost. Dharmalingam registered a complaint with the police, but they
did not take any action. The sub-inspector of the police station, a member of
the Thevar community and the same officer who refused to register earlier
complaints by Pallars against Thevars, instead filed a case against
Dharmalingam, charging him with setting fire to the houses himself in order to
bring false charges against others. Dharmalingam was held at the police station
for four days.
At
the time of our visit to the site, the family was building a house using their
own funds; only people who lost thatch houses were given new ones. The others
were told to return to the village. “But how can we go back?” Dharmalingam
asked. His nineteen-year-old grandson, Dharmaraj, believed that the Thevars
were threatened by the prosperity of their Dalit neighbors and were trying to
take Pallar lands for themselves:
Thevars
had no lands. All thirty Dalit families had lands. In all houses one or two
people from Dalit houses went to government postings [jobs]. They were
jealous... We live on fertile lands. We had government postings so they were
jealous. Most of us did not use reservations. We got it on our own merit.
Displaced Pallar families have also been unable to cultivate the lands they
left behind. As Dharmaraj explained, “After the rainy season we put paddy
[rice] on the fields; but they are damaging our fields and don’t let us go
there. We put paddy again, but again they damaged it. They scold us whenever we
go. They let loose their own cattle in the field. There is no police protection
at all.” Despite the numerous attacks on Pallars in this area, the police have
continually failed to heed calls for protection. If there were police
protection, Dharmalingam argued, they would be able to go back to their house
and their land. Instead, he said: “Whenever the police come to the village,
they go to the Thevar area. The Thevars gave them chicken and other good meals.
The sub-inspector belongs to the Thevar community, and most others also belong
to that community.”
D. Police Raids in the Southern Districts
In
the aftermath of clashes in the southern districts, and under the guise of seeking
out firearms and militant activists, police forces numbering in the hundreds
conducted raids in Dalit villages. The pattern of the raids consisted of
arbitrary arrests and assaults on Dalit men and women and often included
looting and destruction of property. In some cases, police removed their badge
numbers so villagers would not be able to identify and file cases against them.
Studies conducted by the Tamil Nadu Commission for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in various southern district villages concluded that attacks
on these villages were motivated by a desire to cripple Dalits economically by
targeting obvious symbols of their newfound wealth. In an interview with Human
Rights Watch, R. Balakrishnan, director of the commission, described the results
of one such study:
I
have done a study in Kodiyankulum and found that the theme of that attack was
economy. Fans, TV sets, and blenders were broken. All signs of wealth earned
from the Gulf were destroyed. They said they would break the economy and put
them [Pallars] ten years back. The pattern of these police attacks was
established with the raid on Kodiyankulum village in 1995.
Kodiyankulum
Since 1980 the Dalits of Kodiyankulum village, in Tuticorin district, have benefited from the flow of funds from family members employed in Dubai, Kuwait, and the United States. On August 31, 1995, a 600-member police force attacked the all-Dalit village in the presence of the superintendent of police and the district collector and destroyed property worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. In what appeared to be a premeditated attack, police destroyed consumer durables such as televisions, fans, tape-recorders, sewing machines, bicycles, agricultural implements, tractors and lorries, and also demolished food grain storages. They made a bonfire of clothes and burned the passports and testimonials of educated Dalit youth. The village post office was targeted, and police allegedly poisoned the only village well. A village elder claimed that “all through the operation, the policemen were showering abuse on us and made derogatory references to our caste, which only showed their deep-rooted prejudice.” District collector Paneerselvam, accused of leading the raid, was subsequently transferred to Madras.
Since 1980 the Dalits of Kodiyankulum village, in Tuticorin district, have benefited from the flow of funds from family members employed in Dubai, Kuwait, and the United States. On August 31, 1995, a 600-member police force attacked the all-Dalit village in the presence of the superintendent of police and the district collector and destroyed property worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. In what appeared to be a premeditated attack, police destroyed consumer durables such as televisions, fans, tape-recorders, sewing machines, bicycles, agricultural implements, tractors and lorries, and also demolished food grain storages. They made a bonfire of clothes and burned the passports and testimonials of educated Dalit youth. The village post office was targeted, and police allegedly poisoned the only village well. A village elder claimed that “all through the operation, the policemen were showering abuse on us and made derogatory references to our caste, which only showed their deep-rooted prejudice.” District collector Paneerselvam, accused of leading the raid, was subsequently transferred to Madras.
The
stated purpose of the raid was to capture Dalits allegedly involved in the
murder of three Thevars in a nearby village two days earlier. Many suspect that
it was the “relative affluence of the Dalits that attracted the attention of
the uniformed men. The idea, it appears, was to destroy their economic base,
because the police feel the Kodiyankulum Dalits provide moral and material
support to the miscreants in surrounding areas.”
Similar raids have taken place during the southern district clashes. Punduthai, a forty-five-year-old Pallar widow of Thevar-dominated Vanaltaiparam village, was stripped of all her valuables. At the time of the caste riots, “They entered the house and took all house things, dresses and everything. We kept quiet. We didn’t say anything. If we said something we would get beaten or they would set fire to the house.” Since the riots, Punduthai and her two children have relocated to a Pallar-dominant village. Two other clash-related raids are described below.
Similar raids have taken place during the southern district clashes. Punduthai, a forty-five-year-old Pallar widow of Thevar-dominated Vanaltaiparam village, was stripped of all her valuables. At the time of the caste riots, “They entered the house and took all house things, dresses and everything. We kept quiet. We didn’t say anything. If we said something we would get beaten or they would set fire to the house.” Since the riots, Punduthai and her two children have relocated to a Pallar-dominant village. Two other clash-related raids are described below.
Gundupatti
On February 26, 1998, in the village of Gundupatti, Dindigul district, some one hundred policemen and thirty policewomen, along with four truckloads of unidentified men thought to be affiliated with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, attacked Dalits and bonded laborers residing in two villages in Kookal Panchayat, a remote area of the Kodaikanal hills. Attackers reportedly looted and destroyed property and assaulted residents, including women, children and elderly persons. Kerosene was poured into stored food grains and grocery items. The attackers, including police personnel, reportedly urinated in cooking vessels. According to a local human rights organization, women were kicked and beaten, their clothing was torn, and police forced sticks and iron pipes into their mouths. The police attack, whose victims were predominantly women, was apparently in retaliation for a decision made by residents of the Kookal Panchayat to boycott the national parliamentary elections.
After conducting its own investigation into the incident, the National Commission for Women, a government agency, issued an enquiry report on theGundupatti case. The report concluded that the police “took sides with a political faction,” that the criminal force used against women was unwarranted, and that the actions of the police “ha[d] not advanced beyond the colonial concept of power and the subjects.”
On February 26, 1998, in the village of Gundupatti, Dindigul district, some one hundred policemen and thirty policewomen, along with four truckloads of unidentified men thought to be affiliated with the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, attacked Dalits and bonded laborers residing in two villages in Kookal Panchayat, a remote area of the Kodaikanal hills. Attackers reportedly looted and destroyed property and assaulted residents, including women, children and elderly persons. Kerosene was poured into stored food grains and grocery items. The attackers, including police personnel, reportedly urinated in cooking vessels. According to a local human rights organization, women were kicked and beaten, their clothing was torn, and police forced sticks and iron pipes into their mouths. The police attack, whose victims were predominantly women, was apparently in retaliation for a decision made by residents of the Kookal Panchayat to boycott the national parliamentary elections.
After conducting its own investigation into the incident, the National Commission for Women, a government agency, issued an enquiry report on theGundupatti case. The report concluded that the police “took sides with a political faction,” that the criminal force used against women was unwarranted, and that the actions of the police “ha[d] not advanced beyond the colonial concept of power and the subjects.”
The
police had a field day breaking open houses, pulling out people, beating them
up and even violating their modesty, using criminal force on women and girls,
pulling out their mangla sutras
[marriage necklaces], abusing them with filthy language. They allegedly dragged
women and arrested sixteen of them along with nine men. One woman’s baby was
thrown while they were starting off with their truck. The whole village made
many entreaties to the police and then alone the child was allowed to be taken
by the mother. In this state of terror and panic, one of the young pregnant
women had a miscarriage on the road itself.
The
twenty-five men and women were then beaten in the police station and sent to
jail after being taken before a magistrate. They remained in prison for nearly
a month. The People’s Watch activist who initially brought this case to the
attention of the National Commission for Women was later charged with dacoity.
In early September 1998 the One Man Commission of Enquiry appointed by the
government of Tamil Nadu submitted its report on police excess to the state’s
chief minister. The report suggested compensation to the victims.
Desikapuram
The same pattern of destruction was apparent during a raid on Desikapuram village in Virudhunagar district in June 1997. The arrest of Dalit leader Dr. Krishnaswamy on May 2, 1997 led to a staged roadblock by the village population, composed entirely of Pallars. On May 22 protesters were confronted by some 1,000 police officers, many of whom then proceeded to enter the village and search the houses. According to a People’s Watch report, “The police had entered the village in the name of ‘search,’ damaged the houses and looted the jewels, money,watches and whatever they could pick up.” The next morning, some officers entered the village and demanded a total of Rs. 15,000 (US$375) from residents. On June 22, Thevar Peravai leader Dr. Sethuraman led a procession of eighteen cars, nineteen vans and several trucks through the affected areas. Two jeeps followed by a busload of police were also part of the procession. When the procession passed through Desikapuram, both sides started throwing stones at one another. The fighting escalated as Thevars began throwing sickles and setting fire to haystacks while Pallars damaged the Thevar vans with stones.
Around 3:00 p.m. the police raided the village. Many villagers, including a total of nineteen women, were arrested during the raid: fifteen women were held for fifteen days and four for twenty-nine. Many of the men and women suffered fractured arms and legs as a result of the attack. In February 1998 Human Rights Watch spoke to villagers about their confrontations with the police. Muniamal, a forty-year-old agricultural laborer and mother of four, spoke to Human Rights Watch about the manner in which the police entered the village and the villagers’ homes:
The same pattern of destruction was apparent during a raid on Desikapuram village in Virudhunagar district in June 1997. The arrest of Dalit leader Dr. Krishnaswamy on May 2, 1997 led to a staged roadblock by the village population, composed entirely of Pallars. On May 22 protesters were confronted by some 1,000 police officers, many of whom then proceeded to enter the village and search the houses. According to a People’s Watch report, “The police had entered the village in the name of ‘search,’ damaged the houses and looted the jewels, money,watches and whatever they could pick up.” The next morning, some officers entered the village and demanded a total of Rs. 15,000 (US$375) from residents. On June 22, Thevar Peravai leader Dr. Sethuraman led a procession of eighteen cars, nineteen vans and several trucks through the affected areas. Two jeeps followed by a busload of police were also part of the procession. When the procession passed through Desikapuram, both sides started throwing stones at one another. The fighting escalated as Thevars began throwing sickles and setting fire to haystacks while Pallars damaged the Thevar vans with stones.
Around 3:00 p.m. the police raided the village. Many villagers, including a total of nineteen women, were arrested during the raid: fifteen women were held for fifteen days and four for twenty-nine. Many of the men and women suffered fractured arms and legs as a result of the attack. In February 1998 Human Rights Watch spoke to villagers about their confrontations with the police. Muniamal, a forty-year-old agricultural laborer and mother of four, spoke to Human Rights Watch about the manner in which the police entered the village and the villagers’ homes:
They
made a circle and surrounded the entire village. There were nearly a thousand
or more. They entered the village. We locked our doors. They broke down the
doors of my neighbor’s house, where I was at the time. Nearly ten police
entered my house. They broke the trunk that contained all our valuables. They
took all the dresses and threw them out. My daughter’s gold earrings, anklets
of silver, my husband’s watch, a chain and a ring, and a total of four pounds
of gold. I went to my house and saw all the damage. The tube lights were
damaged as was the fan.
The
police then arrested Muniamal in her house and demanded that she leave her
four-year-old son behind. She refused, so they took her son as well. “They used
vulgar words, caste names like podivadi
and pallachi [caste name for
prostitute]_ Using a lathi they hit me on my thigh, shoulder, and on my back. I
had big bruises.” Muniamal spent the night at the Rajapalayam North police
station. She was given only ointment for her wounds, and not permitted to see
adoctor. The next morning both men and women were taken by bus to the
Rajapalayam government hospital. Although the men were treated for fractures,
the women did not receive any treatment. The women were then taken to the
Siviputur magistrate court, and the men were taken to Madurai central jail.
They were charged collectively under the Tamil Nadu Public Properties
(Prevention of) Destruction Act, 1992, and under Indian Penal Code sections 147
(rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 324 (causing hurt with dangerous
weapons), and 307 (attempted murder). The public property charge was allegedly
for setting fire to a Thevar van earlier in the day. Several eyewitnesses
reported, however, that the police themselves had set the van on fire:
They
blamed us for the van. We all saw that the police did it. I spent fifteen days
in jail with my son. The one night we spent at the police station they gave no
food, only water. They used vulgar words and beat me again with a lathi. They
also beat us in the bus from the hospital to the magistrate, and then from the
magistrate to the jail. The men went to Madurai central jail and the women to
Nillakoti jail, which is far away. In the bus they threatened us, saying, “Do
not tell anyone the police beat you. If you tell anyone, the Nillakoti jail
will not accept you and you will have to go to Trichi jail,” which is very far
away. So I was afraid and said nothing.
Thirty-year-old
Irulayee was also sent to jail with one of her three children: When they
arrested me they grabbed me by my hair and dragged me out of the house. I have
scars on my forearms and knees from the lathi beatings. Three police beat me
and used vulgar caste language. I was beaten in my home, at the police station,
and on the bus. I spent fifteen days in jail with my two-year-old daughter.
In
the same village, a twenty-five-year-old agricultural laborer described how the
police took her daughter’s earrings, three rings, and Rs. 300 [US$7.50] after
breaking down her door. She, too, was arrested: I had to leave my children, a
four-year-old girl who is still breast-feeding, and my eight-year-old boy. To
get us on and off the bus to the police station, they shoved their lathis into
our stomachs and backs. I was in jail for thirty-one days, sixteen days extra
because of a technical mistake.
An
eighteen-year-old student named Muniamal, one of the few literate residents of
the village, was punished for questioning the police as they were arresting
women:
It
was Sunday, so I was home from school. On the street a twenty-year-old girl
named Ladha was arrested. I saw it happen and asked my neighbor why they were
arresting women. The police shouted, “Karuvachi,”
which means black girl. I said, “Don’t call me that.” He started using more
vulgar words. He said, “What a bold pallachi [prostitute]!” I pleaded with him
not to arrest me. I said, “I have to go to school tomorrow sir.” They used the
same vulgar words. “Why are you pallachis studying?” He then tied my hair to
another girl’s hair, Guruammal, she’s fifteen. Then they started beating us on
our backs with their lathis. I begged them to leave and not arrest us. My
headmaster, Karnakaraj of the government higher secondary school, asked the
police to release me. Still I was taken to the police station. Again I was
beaten. They pulled off half my sari.
Munusu,
a twenty-five-year-old agricultural laborer who owned small amounts of land in
the area, explained that he was looted twice, once by the Thevars earlier in
the day and again by the police in the afternoon:
All
people behind the [Thevar] procession came into the village. They damaged the
houses, set fire, and looted the properties. The police were also there. Then
at 11:00 a.m. they left. Then around 3:00 p.m. the police alone came... They
surrounded the village and entered into the houses. They damaged the radios,
fans, televisions, and took gold chains and other valuables. Munusu was also
beaten and arrested by the police. He spoke to Human Rights Watch about his
ill-treatment in custody:I ran into my house and locked the doors and entrance.
Nearly ten people were in my house. They pulled us all out and beat us with
lathis. I sustained a fracture in my right leg. They put us in a police van and
took us to Rajapalayam North police station. We stayed overnight. We got no
food between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. We were also beaten at the police station.
Because my injury was serious, they did not beat us overnight, but then started
again in the morning. Then they took five of us to the hospital. We did not get
proper treatment. Then we were taken to court at 11:00 a.m. I couldn’t walk, so
I stayed in the vehicle. The magistrate had to come out to the van; everyone
was covered with blood. I said, “We didn’t do anything, and still the police
beat us.”
Upon
recording their statement, the magistrate remanded them to Madurai central jail
at 3:00 p.m. They were not able to eat the food brought by their relatives
until the morning after. Munusu described what he termed an “admission beat”
upon entering jail: I waited in front of the jail gate from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30
p.m. The Madurai jail police were told that we indulged in violence and that we
were from the Pallar community, so they beat us too. It was an admission beat.
The police took two at a time into the latrine and beat us again with their
lathis. They put everyone in jail except us five. Wewere taken to the hospital.
We became unconscious from the beating. I had blood clots in my right leg.
Munusu
remained in the accident ward for six days and then in the hospital’s jail ward
for nine. After spending three further days in the central jail, he was
released on bail with the help of a human rights organization. He required care
in the Virudhunagar government hospital for the next two months. The district
collector awarded him Rs. 15,000 (US$375) as relief, but no action was taken
against the police. Fifty-year-old Kaddar Karai also recounted his experience
in custody, which left him permanently disabled:
They
took us in a van to the police station. While I was getting down from the van
they beat me on my right leg and arm with the back of their guns. There is now
a metal plate with eight bolts in my leg. They also fractured bones on the
right side of my forearm. I fell down immediately, and they carried me to the
police station. My leg was completely broken. Human Rights Watch viewed an
x-ray of Kaddar Karai’s shattered leg and the bolts that were keeping it in
place.
Despite the severity of his injures, he was kept at the police station
overnight. I received no medicine and no water. I kept bleeding. In the morning
I went to Rajapalayam hospital. They gave me a simple bandage but no treatment.
The police took me to court. I stayed in the van. We were then sent to central
jail. That night I was taken to the government hospital along with four others.
Kaddar Karai remained in the hospital for seventy days. He is no longer able to
walk or move from his cot without assistance. He received Rs. 15,000 (US$375)
from the collector, but no action was taken against the police.
In an interview with Human Rights Watch, Dr. N. Sethuraman, leader of the Thevar procession that instigated the attack, claimed that Desikapuram is a center for militant activity. These Dalit islands are used for anti-social activities like manufacturing bombs and militant training for unemployed youngsters. They hide culprits so the police cannot enter. If police want to enter they have to do it in the thousands. The police are not practicing tactical methods. They are brutal but not clever.
In an interview with Human Rights Watch, Dr. N. Sethuraman, leader of the Thevar procession that instigated the attack, claimed that Desikapuram is a center for militant activity. These Dalit islands are used for anti-social activities like manufacturing bombs and militant training for unemployed youngsters. They hide culprits so the police cannot enter. If police want to enter they have to do it in the thousands. The police are not practicing tactical methods. They are brutal but not clever.
The
police’s behavior during the raids was not indicative of a systematic search
for armed activists. Rather, the attacks and assaults were characterized by
large-scale destruction of property, leading many NGOs and government officials
to believe that attacks by the Thevar-dominated police were motivated by
personal caste affiliations. As of December 1998 no action had been taken to
prosecute the police responsible for these attacks.
.........will continue .......
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