A Sneak peek into a Dalit Family's Legal Struggle

A.B. Karl Marx Siddharthar

On 29th, June, 2021 I, being the victim/petitioner in an atrocity case, visited the Collector's Office, Chennai to attend the DVMC (District Vigilance Monitoring Committee) meeting. Based on the Hon'ble Madras High Court's Order, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Chennai CBCID is the appointed Investigating Officer of my Complaint and recently he had filed a closure report of my complaint as 'Mistake of Fact' following which I have filed a Protest Petition in the Sessions Court challenging the CBCID's report.

At this juncture, I was served with a notice to participate in the meeting of DVMC. The DVMC is chaired by the District Collector, with elected members of parliament and state legislature and other significant members. It means an opportunity given to me to highlight and report before DVMC the willful negligence and dereliction of duty by the CBCID authorities. As me and other petitioners were told to wait at the reception, at the end of two hours we were told that the DVMC has conducted its meeting along with the Investigation Officers and our presence is no longer necessary. To not hear the submissions of the Victims and a report based on the Investigation Officers' statement and other enforcing authorities is nothing short of an eye-wash done by the District Collector and this best explains the defect inherent in the SC/ST Act itself. Can such a report reflect the true state of affairs? The Act explicitly should have ensured the representation of victims/petitioners.

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On the day of Dussehra, Ramojipeta, a village in Illanthakunta Mandal of Sircilla district from where the Chief Minister's son, Mr. K Tarakarama Rao (KTR), was elected, witnessed a tragic Tsundur-like (in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, 1991) and Laximpeta-like (Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, 2012) Dalit atrocity. In the ghastly attack, nine Madiga Dalits were injured, 14 houses were damaged ,eight motor bikes were destroyed, and other properties were destroyed beyond repair. Buffaloes belonging to the Dalit community were also attacked. All youth of the Madiga community ran into the paddy fields in surrounding areas and hid themselves to protect their lives. Fearing an attack, a pregnant woman ran into a paddy field and hid there from 11 PM to 4 AM to protect her baby-within, and herself. What led to this ghastly incident? What are the reasons for this atrocious incident? In order to know this, we have to go into the background of this atrocity and subsequent developments.

Background of the incident

In the year 2013, the gram panchayat of Ramojipeta village decided to install the statue of Baba Sahib Ambedkar in the center of the village. But it had not been accomplished for some reason.Then the Dalits belonging to Madiga community started laying the foundation stone to construct the base for this statue in the month of August ,2020.

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The composition of Fact-Finding Team

The Fact-finding team was composed of three representatives from Samakalvi Iyakkam – Tamil Nadu- A State-level Alliance for promotion and protection of child rights, in particular, the educational rights of children and Two representatives from THAMPU- A National Trust for Tribal Education Development and Research.

• Ms.Jayam, State President of Samakalvi Iyakkam – Tamil Nadu
• Mr. Arivazhagan Rayan, Consultant to Samakalvi Iyakkam – Tamil Nadu
• Adv. Mr. Christuraj, State Advocacy Coordinator to Samakalvi Iyakkam–Tamil Nadu
• Mr. Ramu, Leader of Muduga Tribe at Attapadi and Tribes Coordinator of THAMPU
• Mr. Jijeesh Tom, MSW, Coordinator from THAMPU

Objective of the Visit

Concerned on learning the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man named MADHU aged about 27 years, in board daylight on the 22nd February, 2018, at Attapadi region in Kerala, which shook the conscience of socially concerned people across India, and is under investigation, we, the first three of the above listed persons decided to visit Attapadi assisted by the other two investigators who do social work in the Attapadi Hill regions with THAMPU. The objective of the study was to gather facts from the field, as there were multiple reports in circulation through different media outlets, it was important that socially concerned and committed persons without any political affiliations study the situation from the perspective of the marginalized tribes in particular from the view of the women and children and understand the situation and objectively present the facts before the wider public and demands the state's speedy intervention towards establishing justice.

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Amnesty International India

The construction of an ash pond for a thermal power plant in Nawapara Tenda village, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh without informing or consulting local Adivasi villagers violates their right to free, prior and informed consent, said Amnesty International India today.

TRN Energy, a subsidiary of ACB (India) Power Limited, operates a 600 MW coal-fired thermal power plant in the region. Local residents told Amnesty international India that on 15 October 2017, about 15 people claiming to be acting on behalf of TRN Energy started the construction of an ash pond in Nawapara Tenda, using four excavators and five trucks. Several villagers said that they had not been informed or consulted about the construction of the ash pond, or been told about the effects it could have on their rights to clean air, water, health and livelihood.

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Dr. B. Karthik Navayan

In August, Coal India Limited – the world's largest coal miner – published a 'sustainability report' for 2016-17, as part of its compliance with reporting guidelines set up by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an independent international organization. GRI's stated aim is to help businesses understand and communicate their impact on issues including human rights.

The 'human rights' section of Coal India's report proudly notes that the company respects human rights in its relations with its employees, suppliers, contractors and vendors. It states that Coal India's business partners comply fully with laws on minimum wages, contract labour and child labour. The clincher is the line: During the year 2016-17, we don't have any reported case of human rights violation." And it's not just this year – Coal India's sustainability reports for 2015-16 and 2014-15 also feature the same line: "We don't have any reported case of human rights violation".

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Deepak Kumar & Rajeshwar

Names of the Victims: Maggidi Buchhamma, 70 years, and her daughter Maggidi Manga. 

Dominant Caste Culprits: Baltha Rajamouli and his son and Allam Ravi. 

When: 23rd July 2017, Sunday, morning.

Where: Rendlaguda (Mandapally), Jannaram Mandal, Mancherial District, Telangana. 

Why: Maggidi Buchamma and her daughter Maggidi Manga went to the house of Baltha Rajamouli on 23rd July 2017 morning to ask the return of their land documents, for which they were duped and cheated.

Background: Maggidi Buchamma was gifted 3 Guntas of land by her son-in-law Late Bade Lingaiah in early 2006, who owns 50 Guntas of land in Survey No 29 of Vempally, Kothapally Shivar near Mancherial Town. In October 2006, the elder daughter of Buchamma committed suicide. Three days after her daugher's suicide, being from the same village, Baltha Rajamouli, a dominant caste man, approached Buchamma and told her that she will get money as compensation for the death of her daughter and took her in his car to Mancherial town.

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[Via Trevor Jeyaraj]

Fact Finding Mission to Enquire into Alleged Police Excesses on 23rd January 2017 in Nadukuppam Village, Marina Beach, Tamil Nadu

 January 25, 2017

"நாங்க காலம்காலமா இந்த குப்பத்திலே இருக்கோம். நாங்க இன்னிக்கி திடீர்ன்னு பயங்கரவாதிகளா ஆயிட்டோமா? அடிபட்டு, ரத்தம் சிந்த ஓடிவந்த கொழந்தைங்க, அவங்க பயங்கரவாதிங்களா? அவங்களும் எங்கள மாதிரி தமிழங்கதானே? எங்க கொழந்தைங்க மாதிரிதானே? தமிழனுக்குத் தமிழன்தானே ஆதரவு தரனும்? அவங்கள காப்பாத்துறது எங்க கடமை இல்லையா? அதுக்கா எங்கள இப்படி அடிச்சு நோறுக்குனாங்க?"

"We have been living in these Fishing hamlet for ages, Have we become Terrorists, out of the blue? The kids who have run to us, bleeding, after being hit, were they terrorists? Aren't they Tamilans like us? Aren't they like our Children? It is a Tamilan who should stand by a fellow Tamilan, is it not? Is it not our duty to protect them? Have they beaten us to pulp like this, for all this?" ~ Woman resident, Nadukuppam, as told to Dr. V. Vasanthi Devi.

An all-women fact-finding team consisting of Dr. V. Vasanthi Devi, former chair State Commission on Women, Prof. Anandhi Shanmugasundaram, Adv. Poongkhulali Balasubramanian, and Chandrika Ramanujam from Thozilalar Koodam visited Nadukuppam between 2 and 5 p.m. on 24 January to file the following fact-finding report. Considering the urgency of the situation and the threat of destruction of valuable evidence at Nadukuppam, the Fact finding team has decided to release this report immediately. This report maybe further updated to include versions of other affected individuals and the police personnel.

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