--- Dr Hiren Gohain
> Dear Mr Vishwanath, > It is shocking,esp.in view of Kerala's > past.However,the fact that prominent advocates of > human rights are rallying to her cause is a matter > for some satisfaction. > But I have the following questions: > (1)Was there any complaint against the Payyanur > police's lax attitude towards > what appears to be a practice of untouchability,a > fundamental offence against the constitution? > (2)There appears to be a political angle.Were the > state body of the CITU and the state committee of > CPM informed?They may have compromised a lot,but not > on caste. > (3)The culprits should not be difficult to detect > if the case is transferred to > the charge of non-local policemen.It is THEY who > must be made to pat for the Auto.Regards.Sincerely. > Hiren Gohain > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a > reality with Yahoo! Autos. > http://autos.yahoo.com/index.html > > > Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:10:12 +0530 > From: "Venugopalan K M" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "vishwanath ck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: An Appeal For Chithralekha > Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur, Kerala (Sent For > Approval) To Be Released By Prominent Signatories > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: C.K. Vishwanath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sep 22, 2007 11:59 AM > Subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: An Appeal For Chithralekha > Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur, Kerala (Sent For > Approval) To Be Released By Prominent Signatories > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Note: forwarded message attached. > > > "C.K. Vishwanath" < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: Note: forwarded message attached. > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > > Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you > sell. > http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/Date : Sat, 22 Sep > 2007 09:05:30 +0530 > From: "Venugopalan K M" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "vishwanath ck" < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Fwd: An Appeal For Chithralekha > Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur, Kerala (Sent For > Approval) To Be Released By Prominent Signatories > > > > - > Dear all, > [Following is the translated text of an appeal > drafted originally in Malayalam, to be released to > the press in a press conference at Kannur, on behalf > of the Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, > Kannur, shortly after the Committee's scheduled > meeting on 21st September] > > Dear friends, > Despite our pride in having achieved 100% literacy, > we have to acknowledge sadly that Kerala's social > life continues to be reigned by several unwrit rules > of caste and gender, rather than by law. A series of > incidents that took place at Edat (Payyanur, Kannur > District) starting from organized abuse and > harassment of a dalit woman at her workplace, > physically attacking her for having complained to > the police, and finally seeing her only means of > livelihood, an autorikshaw, destroyed by unknown > persons setting fire to the vehicle in the dead of > night, and to cap these all, a CITU autorikshaw > workers' union coming out openly to defend the > accused persons, seems to demonstrate this. > Chithralekha had procured her autorikshaw under the > JRY Scheme in October 2004. Nevertheless, she had to > wait for three months before the permission to park > her vehicle in the Payyanur College bus stop > Autostand as well as the membership in the Union was > given to her by the CITU Union. > When finally she did succeed in this, she was > greeted by an all-male group of non-dalit > autoworkers by the following comments"Look, the > pulachi ( female gender for pulaya, name of a > prominent SC) is coming with with her auto". > Since then, Chithralekha had to suffer a host of > humiliations and untold sufferings. On 11-10-2005, > Ajith, a fellow auto driver tore the hood of her > vehicle. She complained to the Union only to be > ridiculed and turned back. Further, a complaint made > to the Police ended up with her tormentor being > warned by the police. Obviously outraged by this > daring act of Chithralekha petitioning against a > comrade to the police, Ajith along with Pavithran, > Naveen and Rameshan physically attacked Chithralekha > at her workplace, the auto stand on 14-10-2005 > morning. They publicly dragged her out from the > vehicle and drove one of the autorikshaws on to her > body, which caused injury to her leg serious enough > to stay as inpatient in the Payyanur Govt hospital > for many days. As they were doing all these acts of > brutality, one of them shouted these words" > pulachies of your ilk in future shall never ride > auto here, and it is the union's decision" > The above incident has been booked by the Payyanur > Police under various sections of IPC as well as > under sections of the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) > Act of 1999. This case with FIR No 367/05 is > presently posted for trial before the Special Court > (SC/ST Atrocities), Thalassery. > We believe that but for the timely intervention of > the District Level Monitoring Committee which is a > statutory committee for monitoring such cases of > atrocities against dalits, the above mentioned case > would not have been booked at all; on the contrary, > the dominant caste-gender set up in combination with > the generally existing status-quoist bias of > individual police officers would have ensured > impunity for the offenders and further > institutionalization of such crimes. > Even against the successful intervention on the > part of the Dist Level Monitoring Committee to get > the case booked and properly pursued, collectively > expressed hatred and openly displayed hostility > against Chithralekha were only heading to a point of > vantage. In the night of 31-12-2005, her vehicle was > burned by unidentified persons. This incident was > registered as FIR No 474/05 in the Payyanur Police > Station. > As we hear further stories of intimidation and > demoralizing of witnesses by several quarters of > vested interests with a view to weakening of these > cases as such, we notice that unless the civil > society actively involves in the process of bringing > justice to the victim, this kind of crimes motivated > by caste and gender is going to get > institutionalized. > Chithralekha is presently dependent solely on the > Monitoring Committee that includes a few > civilian(dalit) representatives and the State > mechanism available. While it needs to be clearly > reiterated that without such State mechanism it > would not have been possible to bring the culprits > to book under the relevant provisions of law, the > ridiculously unwarranted attempts to impose virtual > compromise on the victim by intimidating and > demoralizing her witnesses and in many other ways > need to be resisted. The absolutely unfair > interventions of political manipulators to protect > the non-dalit, male accuseds from the reach of law, > in this case, should be effectively challenged by > vigorous pursuit of the Rule Of Law by an informed > civil society. > It is worth mentioning in this context, that a > citizens' action committee based at Payyanur was > indeed on the scene until April 2006 to support > Chithralekha. The committee though succeeded in > getting an auto for her on rental basis and as part > of their endeavour to restore work to Chithralekha, > it became defunct soon after the election campaign > for the Kerala Assembly picked up momentum. Due to > several reasons, Chithralekha was virtually > compelled to return the hired vehicle to its owner. > Since then, she had to support herself and her > family by going outside for unskilled labour in the > building sector, evenwhile she refused to compromise > in her determined struggle against the cast-gender > hostilities still propagated against her. > On the 29th August of this year, a new initiative to > support Chithralekha came to existence by forming a > new forum based at Kannur, the District > headquarters. The meeting convened by Dr > D.Surendranath was personally attended by Mr. > K.K.Kochu,the well known dalit leader.Several other > prominent dalit activists and intellectuals had also > extended === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! 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