Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

Dalit woman panchayat president alleges assault by police

TIRUNELVELI: A Dalit woman panchayat president has been admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital after being allegedly thrashed by two police officers for trying to prevent a private company’s repeated attempts to lay a road over an irrigation channel.

When E. Vallithaai (33) of North Kaavalaakurichi village panchayat saw the 8-foot-wide irrigation channel south of Rukmanipuram, which supplies water to the Periyakaavalaakurichi tank near Alangulam, being levelled by personnel of a private major installing wind power generation units in various parts of the district to facilitate the smooth movement of its vehicles carrying over-dimensional windmill spare parts, she stalled the attempt on February 4.

Before her intervention, many trees close to the channel had been uprooted using heavy equipment, and the irrigation channel filled. To end the “illegal activitiy” on panchayat poramboke land, she forwarded petitions right from the Veerakeralamputhur tahsildar to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell on February 6.

“However, no one intervened to prevent the wind energy generator supplier from illegally taking the windmill spare parts via the irrigation channel, which apparently emboldened its personnel,” Ms. Vallithaai recalls.

Road metal was spread on the already filled-up channel. The panchayat president’s SOS to the Ooththumalai police station went unheard. “Instead, the police warned me that I’d have to face serious consequences if I obstructed the ongoing work,” she said.

Undeterred, Ms. Vallithaai and a group of people planted saplings along the channel after Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna inaugurated the greening exercise recently.

Branches of acacia, which were put around these saplings to protect them from being grazed, stopped the vehicular movement across the channel.

“When police personnel, led by Sub-Inspector of Police, Ooththumalai, Pitchaiah, and Inspector of Police, Surandai, Lakshmanan, came to the spot on April 9, we aired our grievances… However, I was beaten up by Mr. Lakshmanan and Mr. Pitchaiah. They referred to me by my community name and warned that a case would be registered. I was admitted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital the next day,” Ms. Vallithaai, a mother of four, said.

She has been advised to take medical assistance for “internal injuries” she had suffered.

The complaint preferred by the victim was not entertained by the Ooththumalai police station, alleged Ms. Vallithaai’s husband Elango.

Superintendent of Police, R. Dhinakaran, told The Hindu that the road was laid only after obtaining approval from the Alangulam union. The problem started when a group of women, led by Ms. Vallithaai, damaged the roads in the guise of planting saplings and laid acacia branches on the road.

“Since she claims that she was beaten up, we’ve referred the matter to the Tenkasi Revenue Divisional Officer for further investigation,” Dr. Dhinakaran said.

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