Dear Friends
Hope you have seen my article about a dalit youth's murder in
Tamilnadu.When i participated in the funeral the Tamilnadu police
targetted and assaulted me.Please read the message given below sent
by one of my friends Mr.S.Anand and send your protest mails to the
concerned authorities.
-Ravikumar
MLA,Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi
===================================================================
Writer, activist, publisher and MLA with Dalit Panthers (Viduthalai
Chiruthaigal), D. Ravikumar was assaulted by members of the Tamil
Nadu police on 2 January at Sedapalayam village, Cuddalore district.
He was participating in the funeral procession of Siva, a 23-year-
old dalit youth and DPI worker who was subjected to a murderous
assault on 1 January by Vanniyars.
On 31 December, Ravikumar had sent out a pessimistic New Year mail
focusing on the increasing violence against dalits and societal
apathy and indifference towards the same. On January 2, as if to
justify his cheerless mood, on the dawn of the New Year at 1 a.m. a
Dalit youth, Siva, was assaulted by a group of Vanniyar men (listed
as a most backward class) in Sedapalayam, Cuddalore district. The
reason: a few days earlier, a cricket match took casteist overtones
and resulted in an altercation between Dalit and Vanniyar youth.
Incidents of caste Hindus assaulting Dalits over a loss in a cricket
match are common, but underreported. See for instance, the report On
Bloody Pavilions in Outlook, February 23, 2004, which reports an
incident where Dalit youth in a UP village won a game of cricket but
lost lives in the caste war.
Soon after he came to know of the Jan 1 incident, Ravikumar who
represents Kattumannarkoil constituency (also in Cuddalore distirct)
rushed to the spot, only to find that Siva who was assaulted at 1
a.m succumbed to the head injuries by 6 p.m. at the Government
Hospital in Pondicherry. Soon, Ravikumar got in touch with the
Cuddalore collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi and also the Chief Minister
M. Karunanidhi over phone. He urged them to ensure that a case was
filed under SC/AT PoA Act, immediate compensation be given to the
family of the deceased and the culprits be brought to book. He also
pleaded with the police and district administration to ensure that a
caste clash did not erupt and law and order were maintained. The
compensation cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh was quickly readied and was to be
handed over after the funeral. On the evening of 2 January, at about
6 p.m. as the funeral procession was passing the houses of the
alleged assaulters of Siva, stones were pelted at the procession.
The already angry DPI cadre and others in the procession vented
their ire by trying to set fire to the some vanniyar houses.
The 100-strong police, which included personnel of the Delta Police,
launched a lathi-charge. Scores of dalits were injured. Ravikumar
too sustained several injuries on his hands and legs. Ravikumar, who
had all along been interacting with the police, said: "In the first
place, the police should not have allowed the procession via the
dwellings of the accused persons. Tensions were high and the police
merely fuelled the atmosphere. There was no provocation for the
assault on me. DSP Chadrasekhar, and the Inspector of Old Town
police station Shafiullah were with me till moments before the lathi-
charge. I was not an unknown person to the police. The two men who
assaulted me are SIs Thiruvenkadam (Delta Police) and Kumaresan (TN
Police).
"When one policeman tried to prevent the cops from attacking me
saying I was an MLA, the assaulters said even if I was an MLA I
should not be spared for inciting caste violence," recalls
Ravikumar. All the while, Ravikumar was merely trying to ensure that
a caste clash did not ensue. Since the Indian Science Congress was
to commence the next day (January 3) in neighbouring Chidambaram,
much of the administration's focus has been directed there.
As a writer and MLA, Ravikumar is personally known to the Chief
Minister. He was in fact a key player in the DPI switching over the
DMK-led alliance a few months ago. If such a person can be so
casually assaulted by the lower ranks of the police it merely points
to the anti-dalit mentality of the police. The DMK govt and the
local administration insist on underplaying the sequence of events.
Senior bureaucrats and ministers have called up Ravikumar
apologizing for the 'unfortunate incident' and seem to insist
on 'forgiving and forgetting'.
It may be recalled that it was during the previous DMK govt's regime
(1996-2001) that communal clashes between Vanniyars and Dalits
intensified in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu, with Cuddalore
becoming a hot spot. Karunanidhi also infamously blamed the victims
for organizing a procession for the Tirunelveli massacre on the
banks of the Tamiraparani river on July 23, 1999 in which 17
persons, 10 of them dalits, died in a police lathi-charge. The Mohan
Commission of inquiry ordered by Karunanidhi had given a clean chit
to the police and the district administration. The State government
has accepted the report.
In the wake of this, please spare the time to write an email to:
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chief Secretary to Govt : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tmt. Tamilarasi. Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Insist that justice be done to the murdered Siva and that the
assaulters should be booked.
Condemn the assault on Ravikumar and demand that the overbearing
police personnel be suspended. Demand an inquiry into the lathi-
charge.
Copy your email to Ravikumar: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
S. Anand
www.navayana.org
On 1/2/07, S. Anand <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 2 Jan 2007 03:23:12 -0000, adheedhan ravikumar <
[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
Dear Friends
The New Year 2007 started with a brutal murder of a Dalit youth in
Tamilnadu.Please read the following story and circulate it.
-Ravikumar
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Dalit youth killed near Cuddalore,tamilnadu
Ravikumar*
New Year begins with a brutal murder of a Dalit here in
Tamilnadu. A Dalit youth named Siva(23) was brutally murdered at
Sedapalayam a small village near Cuddalore to day 1st January
2007.The caste Hindu Vanniars intercepted and attacked Siva and four
other Dalit youths when they traveled in an auto rickshaw to their
village. It happened when the Most Backward caste(MBC) Vanniars
celebrated the New Year in the early hours of January 1st. A few
days earlier there was an altercation between the Dalit youths and
Vanniars in a cricket match. This is the fallout of that
incident,the Dalits said.
According to the 2001 census,Cuddalore district has a high
Dalit population of 634479 persons among which 514729 lives in rural
areas. Comparatively speaking Cuddalore district was a peaceful
district in Tamilnadu. But that situation got deteriorated during
90s when the epicenter of the caste clashes moved from southern
districts to northern districts of Tamilnadu An analysis of the
caste conflicts in the year of 2001 by the PCR wing showed that the
``caste menace'' which was prevalent mostly in southern districts,
has spread across north Tamil Nadu, particularly Cuddalore,
Villupuram, Dharmapuri and Tiruvallur.
A majority of the 15 caste clashes reported from January
to June 2001 killing 15 people took place in north Tamil Nadu,
largely between the Dalits and the Vanniars. And, the largest number
of atrocity-prone villages-as many as 30-have been identified in
Cuddalore district, while Tirunelveli district considered to be the
hot-bed of caste menace, has only 13 such villages.
During the 1999 parliamentary elections Chidambaram
(reserved) constituency in the Cuddalore district witnessed a worst
kind of violence against Dalits. Thousands of Dalit houses were
burnt down by the Vanniars and many people were wounded. Many
polling booths were also captured by the Vanniars. There was a small
lull in the caste tensions in the district particularly after
Mr.Thol.Thirumavalavan, the general secretary of the Viduthalai
Chiruthaikal Katchi (D.P.I) aligned with Dr.Ramadoss of P.M.K in the
Tamil nationalist activities. Now both these parties are in the same
alliance under D.M.K .
Even though the D.P.I and the P.M.K shares the same
political platform the Vanniars do not want to change their attitude
towards Dalits. The Vanniars started to attack dalits again. A few
months back during the local body elections, more than hundred
houses of Dalits were ransacked by Vanniars in Paththirakottai a
small village in the district. Caste Hindus killed a dalit youth who
married a caste Hindu girl in Kozhiyur recently. Once again the
mercury is rising in the district to make it worse this murder
happened.
Tamilnadu government has selected Mr.Thol.Thirumavalavan
for 'Ambedkar award' this year. That function is going to be held on
8th January at Chennai. Dalit people welcomed this decision by
pasting thousands of posters all over the state. Viduthalai
Chiruthaikal Katchi ( D.P.I) honored the Tamilnadu Chief Minister
M.Karunanidhi with a title "Samaththuva Periyar" (a great man of
equality) recently. But this gruesome murder spoiled this entire
atmosphere.
Martin Luther king Jr once said, "It may be true that
the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching
me, and I think that's pretty important", Dalits of Tamilnadu also
echoes the same words today.
*Ravikumar is an MLA of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi(D.P.I)
Tamilnadu
RAVIKUMAR
E Mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
