CHENNAI: Police have failed to book perpetrators under the SC/ST atrocities law in the case of a Dalit family that was allegedly harassed and publicly beaten by caste Hindus in K Thattumal Village, Kumbakonam. In fact police helped the main accused get an anticipatory bail.K Rajamanikkam (39) and his wife Radha had worked as bonded labourers at a brick kiln owned by Thalaiparamasivam of Devanachery. Thalaiparamasivam had promised the couple Rs 15,000 for one year’s work. But, after a year, he refused to let them leave. Instead he claimed they owed him money. “When we moved to another brick kiln, Thalaiparamasivam claimed we needed to pay him Rs 10,000 as dues,” Rajamanikkam’s sister 44-year-old Vijaya said.When Rajamanikkam and Vijaya met Thalaiparamasivam at his marriage hall on May 5, he and his brother Pandian allegedly abused them and beat Rajamanikkam, said Vijaya. She claimed Thalaiparamasivam demanded Rs 10,000 rupees to free them from his control.“We borrowed Rs 10,000 and paid him. But in five days, he and his associates Murugan and Loganathan, came and beat us with logs. My brother sustained a head injury and my hand was broken,” she said.“When they approached the Swamimalai police station, the police recorded Vijaya’s statement, but obtained her signature without even reading out the statement to her,” said A Kathir, Executive Director of Evidence, an NGO that works for Dalit rights. When the Evidence team examined the case, they found the police had invoked neither the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the aggressors nor booked them under theBonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.According to Kathir, most Dalits and other people from the subaltern community worked as bonded labourers in the brick kilns owned by caste Hindus in Kumbakonam, but action had not been initiated by the police or district administration.Worse, Rajamanikkam moved from Thalaiparamasivam’s brick kiln only to end up a bonded labourer in another brick kiln. The police failed to invoke the Bonded Labour Abolition Act in this instance as well.Despite several attempts, station inspector Soundarajan could not be reached for comment.
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