Dear Friends, Most of you must be aware of Chithra Lekha *(please see details of her case below)* and her brave struggle to make a living as an auto rickshaw driver in Kannur, Kerala. Many of us had contributed to help her procure an auto rickshaw after it was burned, allegedly by CITU activists.
Recently, Chithra Lekha was trapped in what she says is a false case and taken to the police station and beaten up. Though she has been let off now, she has many injuries and has no way to question the violence that has happened to her. *(A detailed report of the incident by Venugopal who visited Chithra Lekha and talked to her, is given below).* Though a few people have been trying for a whole day, we are finding it difficult to get many people at the local level to intervene actively in this case. There are not many who are ready to stand against the CPM or CITU. And some of those who raised their voices are penalised for the same. Chithra finds herself alone in many ways and is so distressed that she is even thinking of surrendering the auto rickshaw that she has procured with all our help and going back to the life of exile as before If this happens then it would be like the local goons have succeeded in driving out a Dalit woman from her village and stopped her from doing the work that she had wanted and chosen to do. Friends if we do not do anything now soon it might be too late. It would be like we are standing and watching while a woman who has put up such a brave struggle is ostracized and thrown out of her own native place. Let us please all stand in solidarity with Chithra Lekha at this juncture. Please respond to this issue as soon as possible. We are thinking of a fact finding commission and also making the issue publicly known. Whoever is interested in joining the commission please write to us. Please make this issue known widely and let as many people as possible decide to intervene. Also please call up Chithra Lekha and extend your moral support to her at this point. Here are her numbers: *9526128764* and *9744361941* Any other help and suggestion is also welcome Anil Tharayath Varghese – 009971170738 K M Venugopal - 9447488215 Jenny Rowena P - 09868216719 Carmel Christy – 09958500931 *Given below is a Report of what happened recently by K M Venugopal, who was a member of the 2008, Chithra Lekha rehabilitation committee:* The Payyanur Auto Workers, CITU is again continuing its policy of hatred toward the couple, one of whom is a dalit woman whose auto rickshaw had been set fire and destroyed in 2005 December, following a series of incidents of harassment at work place. The incident narrated by Chithralekha and her husband Sreeshkanth, is as follows: This morning, Chithralekha was about to park her auto rikshaw in front of a medical shop to buy medicine for their son who had received a sting by honey bee. She was also accompanied by Sreeshkanth, her husband. One Mr Ramachandran who is an office bearer of the Autorikhaw Union of Payyanur menacingly asked her to move her auto away from the parking spot. She replied that she had the lawful permit to park and had every right to do so. An altercation followed between the couple and a few auto workers. After a few moments, a police jeep arrived and bundled the couple to the vehicle. They got severely beatings by the autoworkers even as they got into the jeep and in presence of the police. When Chithralekha told the Inspector that her valuables and cash were inside the auto rickshaw, the officer assured them that that would be taken care of. After reaching the Police Station, the couple were severely beaten. A woman police Officer beat Chithralekha black and blue and her sari was almost pulled off. Later, Sreeshkanth was taken to the hospital for a check for intoxication; though Chithralekha also was compelled to get examined, she protested and resisted the move, sensing that the police were acting in a biased manner and they would get her booked for driving inebriated under a false testimony by some doctor. Chithralekha was later released but had to go to the hospital due to her injuries. She has injuries all over the body and also in the lower stomach. She is not only in great pain, but is also left almost alone without no help from any one in questioning the actions of the union workers and the police. *The Chithra Lekha Case* * * Chithra Lekha was born into a Pulaya family, which is an ex-untouchable caste in Keralam. After her marriage to Shreeshanth a Thiyya (an OBC caste) auto driver, she went on to buy an auto rickshaw - KL 13L 8527 in Chitra Lekha’s name under the PMRY loan scheme. The auto stand in Payyannur in which Chithra Lekha wanted to drive her auto was controlled by the CITU, the trade union that belongs to the Communist Party of India, Marxist (CPI (M)). In order to drive her auto, Chithra Lekha had to be granted a membership card from the CITU. This card was delayed for more than 2 months as the party was already angry with Chithra Lekha for having married above her caste. In spite of such harassment Chithra Lekha turned out to be a competent driver and became very popular with her customers, especially women. When she started her career there had been a coin operated phone at the auto stand where the customers would call for drivers. Soon, Chithra Lekha started getting the most number of calls from this phone. This she feels disturbed her fellow male drivers. After a few months she bought a mobile phone and now people started calling for her even more than before. This made the drivers feel even more threatened. All these problems took a violent turn during the Navami or Saraswathy Pooja days when Chithra Lekha placed her auto in the common Pandal for *pooja*. When she came to take back the auto on the next day, that is on October 11, 2005, she found that the hood of her auto was torn. Ajith, one of the CITU members who had threatened her earlier was standing there and she asked him why did he tore the hood. He retaliated saying that if you don’t keep your limits you will also be torn like this. She complained about the incident to Rameshan, fellow auto driver and the Secretary of the local branch of CITU, but to no avail. Since there was no response from Rameshan or CITU, she lodged a complaint with the police after two days. When she came back to the stand on October 14th Rameshan gave her a two hour punishment of abstention, for having taken the case out of the stand to the police station. Chithra Lekha declined to obey it, at which point an angry Rameshan tried to run over Chithra Lekha with his auto. She moved to the other side of the road and escaped the attack. However she sustained minor injuries and had to be hospitalized. Yet another compliant was lodged against Rameshan and he was arrested. Immediately CITU members unleashed a poster campaign in support of Rameshan. They stuck posters and wrote on the walls of the panchayath that Chithra Lekha and her mother were loose women who were bringing up the issue of caste only to hide their immoral natures. Soon, violence took its worst form when her auto was burned to ashes on the small hours of December 30th2005. With the help of Ayyappan Master, a Dalit activist and member of the police committee to prevent atrocities against SC/STs, Chithra Lekha lodged a complaint against six CITU members including Ajith and Rameshan. The case was registered under IPC 143, 147, 148, 341, 352, 324, 294 (B), 506 (1), SC/ST S3 (1) XI R/W and 149. An action committee was also formed to protest against what happened and also to rehabilitate Chithra Lekha ** -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
