Dear friends,
It is 8 months since the campaign to raise the targeted amount of Rs
1.5 lakhs in rehabilitating Chithralekha by restoring her means of
livelihood by procuring a new auto rikshaw for her, with the money
raised from concerned citizens took off. The whole story needn't be
repeated here, as we are too well aware of the background from which
this campaign happened to take off.
Presently, we have an amount of Rs 70,000/= collected so far .You may
please note that this is much below the target. We feel that this
modest effort to raise funds can no longer be maintained indefinitely
in time, and therefore, we have to close it without further delay. In
order to meet our end, we are left with no option other than availing
a loan for the remaining sum needed to purchase an auto rikshaw. With
a view to minimising the burden of bank loan to the least extent
possible on the Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, we request
that those who haven't already made a donation may do it immediately.
Please peruse here the details of contribution we received so far:
S/sri
1.Salim T.K ( Thalassery/ UAE): Rs1,500.00
2.Jayasree A.K (Rajamundry,A.P) : Rs 1,000.00
3.Mr.K.K.Baburaj(Kottayam) : Rs 1,000.00
4.Dr Sivashankar (Chennai) : Rs 1,000.00
5.Sri.K.Panur (Kannur) :Rs 100.00
6.Jenny Roweena, }
Carmel Christy, Ranjith.R} Rs 10,000.00
and others (Hydbad), }
7.Jenson Joseph (Hydbad): Rs 1,000.00
8.P.V.Ayyappan(Trissur): Rs 1,000.00
9.Dr.A.V.Bharathan(Trissur): Rs 1,000.00
10.Dr.M.R.Govindan(Thrissur) Rs 500.00
11.Dr.K.K.Rahulan(Thrissur) Rs 200.00
12.C.R.Parameswaran(Thrissur)Rs 500.00
13.K.Venu(Thrissur)
Rs 1,000.00+1,000.00= Rs 2,000.00
14.Dr.A.K.Ramakrishnan
(MGU,Kottayam): Rs 1,000.00
15.Dr.V.C.Harris,
(MGU,Kottayam): Rs 1,000.00
16.Dr.K.M.Seethi
(MGU,Kottayam): Rs 500.00
17.Dr.N.J.Phillip(Kottayam) :Rs 1,000.00
18.V.P.Zuhara(Kozhikkode) :Rs 500.00
19.Deepa V.N( Kottayam): Rs5,000.00
20.Mythri, Roshni,
Sunitha, Vijaya(CDS,Tvm) :Rs 500.00
21.Dr.Alice(CDS,Tvm) :Rs 500.00
22.Dr.Anita Thampi(CDS,Tvm):Rs 500.00
23.B.R.P.Bhaskar(Tvm): Rs 1,000.00
24.Dr.Ranjini Lakshmi(CDS,Tvm):6,650.00
25.Dr.Shivanandan(CDS,Tvm)::Rs 500.00
26.P.N.Gopeekrishnan(Thrissur)Rs 500.00
27.M/s.SNA Oushadhashala(Thrissur) Rs 500.00:
28V.G.Thampi (Thrissur): Rs 250.00
30.Hiranyan(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00
31.M/s Anveshi (Kozhikkode): Rs 2,000.00
32.Dr.Mini Sukumaran(Calicut University)
33.Ravi.P.C(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00
34.N.N.Gokuldas,(Thrissur) : Rs 1,000.00
35.K.Radhakrishnan(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00
36.Dr.Jayaraj,(Thrissur) : Rs 1,000.00
37.Anil, Altermedia(Thrissur): Rs 250.00
38.K.V.Abdul Azeez(Thrissur) : Rs 2,000.00
39.Dr.T.T Sreekumar (Singapur) : Rs 6,000.00
40.Dr.K.V.Devadhasan(Payyanur): Rs 1,000.00
41.V.P.Sreenivasan(Payyanur) : Rs 1,000.00
42.K.M.Hrisheekeshan(Payyanur) : Rs 1,000.00
43.K.M.Nandakishor(Payyanur) : Rs 1,000.00
44.Dr.K.Aravindakshan(Thrissur) : :Rs 500.00
45.T.P.Yakub(Kozhikkode) : Rs 2,000.00
46.Suresh,K.P.Mohsin,
Dinesh,Dr.K.V.Balakrishnan, } : Rs 500.00
Dr.Geethakumari,Raju Kuttan,
(Calicut University)
47.Mohanakrishnan.V (Calicut University) Rs 500.00
48.Ganga Parvathi Shankar (Pune) : Rs 1,000.00
49.Ajesh C.A (Calicut University) :Rs 500.00
50.O.P.Ravindran (Calicut University) : Rs 500.00
51.C.R.Ramesh(Thrissur) : Rs 200.00
52.Harinarayanan (Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00
53.U.K.Nair(Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00
54.Harishankar,(Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00
55.Dr.J.Devika (CDS) and others : Rs 1,100.00
Total amount so far: Rs 70,000.00(approximately)
This list is almost update, with the possibility of very few
omissions ( for want of returns of the details/ pendency of remittance
by friends who may be involved in collection)
We hope however, that the process will successfully be completed in
another short period, by active participation from everybody.
Chithralekha, had been violently deprived of her means of livelihood
by political actors encouraged by the characteristically casteist and
sexist mode of hate, which was ultimately played out against the
victim. We need to take immediate steps to rehabilitate her,
notwithstanding the outcome of the cumbersome legal battle (in which
too, she needs support.)
It is proposed to shortly convene a well attended public meeting;
prominent leaders and acivists will be invited to participate , and
the keys of the new vehicle will be handed to Chithralekha in a
different atmosphere of goodwill and better understanding,where the
old hostilities are best expected to be rolled back.
Yours sincerely,
K.M.Venugopalan,
Convener, Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee.
phone:09447488215.
Let's also go back to the original message by the Chithralekha
Rehabilitation Committee here, which may help recap the whole story .
It also helps to find to where and how the donations ( very much
needed still), are to be sent .
Subject: An Appeal Made On Behalf of The Chithralekha Rehabilitation
Committee, Kannur, Kerala
[Following is the translated text of an appeal released at a
press conference on 26-09-07 in Kannur, by the Chithralekha
Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur, Kerala ]
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 PMRY
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 thier support to this initiative. This committee was
named as Chithralekha Punaradhivasa (Rehabilitation) Committee and it
took stock of the situation as a whole.,against the background of
conspicuous lack of any collective expression of solidarity with her
continuing struggle.The next meeting of this committee on
4-09-2007resolved to extend unconditional support to Chithralekha in
her struggle for justice.The committee identified the urgent need of
rehabilitating Chithralekha, with the work as well as a nightmares-
free workplace restored to her. For this, it was decided to purchase a
new autorikhshaw for her by collecting the necessary fund from the
people. For carrying out this effectively and transparently, Dr
Surendranath(Chairman), Mr.P.K.Ayyappan (Treasurer) and
Mr.K.M.Venugopalan (Convenor) would jointly operate an account in the
Thalap branch of the Kannur District Central Co-operative Bank in
connection with collecting and depositing of a targeted fund of
Rs1,50,000/=
While we ourselves fully endorse the above mentioned
objectives of the Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee,Kannur, we
would like to request the entire civil society of Kerala to come
forward in support of these causes ,viz; of ending hostilities toward
a dalit woman and allowing the law to take the right course on the one
hand, and helping rehabilitation of Chithralekha by restoring her
means of livelihood and work.
Hence,we request everybody to make contribution to the
Cithralekha Rhabilitation Fund either by depositing direct to
Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee SB Ac. No.1 of Thalap branch of
CDCC bank of Kannur ( Kannur District Central Co-operative Bank), or
by sending in Ac.Payee Cheque or crossed DD payable at Kannur, or
Money Order, to the following address :-
Dr.D.Surendranath,
Chairman,
Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee,
Pallikunnu P.O., Kannur.
Among the persons who have already signed this draft are ---
Bhargavi Thankappan (former Dy Speaker,Kerala Assembly), L.Natarajan
( Retd IAS),K.C.Venu ( Retired Director, Public Relations,
Thiruvananthapuram) K.K..Kochu (Dalit activist and writer),Sunny
Kapikkad (Dalit writer and activist, Kottayam) , M.B.Manoj ( Poet and
Dalit activist, Kottayam), Rekha Raj (Dalit Women's Forum, Kottayam),
K.Panur (Senior campaigner and writer on Adivasi-Dalit issues & Human
Rights, Kannur), K.Venu , Dr.M.Gangadharan, Dr .A.K.Ramakrishnan
(School Of International Relations, MG University, Kottayam), K.Ajitha
(Campaigner in Womens' issues and the leading activist in Anweshi,
Womens'Organization, Kozhikkode) , A.Vasu ( Human Rights activist,
Kozhikkode), Dr.J.Devika (CDS, Thiruvananthapuram), V.P.Zuhara
( Nisa,Organization For Progressive Muslim Women, Kozhokkode) , Anivar
Aravind (Greenyouth Forum& GAYA, Trissur), B.R.P.Bhaskar (senior Human
Rights campaigner and journalist, Thiruvananthapuram), Dr.V.C.Harris
(School Of Social Sciences, MGU, Kottayam) , C.K.Janu (leader, Adivasi
Gothra Mahasabha, Wynad), Prof Sara Joseph ( Literatuer and Womens'
Rights campaigner, Thrissur), Advocate P.A.Pauran (PUCL-Kerala,
Manjeri), K.Haridas ( writer and Human Rights activist, Mumbai ),
Dr.Jenny Roweena (Writer and Researcher in Gender and Caste
Issues ,Hydbad), Carmel Chrity (Research Scholar, Hyderabad Central
University & activist researcher In Gender and Caste ), Elizabeth
Philip( Sahaja, Womens' Rights organization, Kottayam), Ranjith
Thakappan ( Lecturer, Indira Gandhi Open University, New Delhi),
I.Gopinath (Media Initiatives and Human Rights activist, Thrissur),
Sarat (Thirdeyefilms , Ernakulam), A.Arun (Research Scholar, Hyderabad
Central University), P.Baburaj (Thirdeye films,Ernakulam),
K.K.Ushakumari (Janakeeya Samskarika Kendram, Kodungallur), Radhika
Menon (Forum For Democratic Initiatives,New Delhi), Vinod.K.Jose
( Human Rights activist and Fellow, Columbia Journalism School, New
York), K.P.Sasi( Human Rights activist and film maker, Bangalore),
Bauraj.K (writer and activist, Kodungallur), Shyla.K.John (Secretary,
AIMSS, Kerala), Advocate Kasthuri Devan (social activist, Kannur),
Dr.A.K.Jayasree( womens'rights campaigner,Rajamundri,
A.P) ,Dr.K.M.Seethi (School Of International Relations and Political
Science, MG University, Kottayam), Deepa V.N (Sahayatrika, Kerala),
Girija K.P (Kerala),S.Sanjeev (Kerala), Rev Sunil Raj (Bangalore),
Mustafa Desamangalam ( Media and Films activist, Kerala), Sudeep
Joseph (Bangalore), Bobby Kunju (Human Rights and Legal activist,New
Delhi),Sandhya P.C (GAIA,Thrissur, Kerala), Anil Tharayath Varghese
(National Centre For Advocacy Studies, Pune), Dr.Ratheesh
Radhakrishnan (Kerala), Shinaj.P.S(Hyderabad Central University),
I.K.Shukla (Writer, Los Angeles ) ,Sushovan Dhar (Radical
Politics,Mumbai).Subhash Lokjith (Pune), Sukla Sen, (Peoples' Media
Initiative, Mumbai ), George Pulikuthiyil (Jananeethi Institue,
Kerala), Bindhulakshmi (Hyderabad), Ajay(People's Watch), Dr.Sanal
Mohan (School Of Social Sciences, MGU,Kottayam), Salim.T.K
(Greenyouthsgooglegroup), Savad Rahman (Journalist, Kochi),Rajesh
Ramakrishnan (Activist and Researcher, New Delhi), Dr.Soma
Marik( Kolkatha), Dr.T.T.Sreekumar ( Academic / Asst Professor,
National University Of Singapore), Gilbert Rodrigo (Pondicherry Fisher
peoples' forum),T.Peter (Secretary, National Fishworkers' Forum &
President, KSMTU,Kerala), Dileepraj ( writer and Human Rights
campaigner, Kerala ).
We look forward to your co-operation in further spreading the
message.
.
thanking you,
for Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur .
Kindly use the following postal addresses/ emails as well, for
future communication:
Dr.D.Surendranath,
( Chairman, Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee),
Pallikkunnu P.O;
Kannur-4,
Kerala (State),
S.India
Pin code- 670004
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 04972-701279
K.M.Venugopalan,
Convenor, Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur.
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 09447488215.
C.K.Vishwanath,
Member, Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committe, kannur
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 04985-277680.
With immense gratitude to everybody and In solidarity,
K.M.Venugopalan.
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