Tamil Nadu: Tasmac protesters flee from village after police harassment
Chennai: Padur, a village on the Old Mahabalipuram Road is in the seize of fear, with the police personnel continuing their midnightknocks on the doors. Though many have fled Padur, a village on OMR, a few of them are forced to tolerate the repeated harassment of the police, indulging in undemocratic practices. As government bodies to address the violations are headless, dejected residents feel to the only option of abandoning the village.
“If I hear a heavy footfall, I start trembling. I could not sleep the whole night (Monday) as the police were knocking the doors during the late hours,” said Ramani (name changed), a resident of the Padur Colony. Their miseries commenced last Friday, when residents ransacked a Tasmac shop inaugurated here, close to a woman's public toilet and a water pump. The police have registered cases on about 130 residents for damaging the public property and indulging in agitation. As most of the villagers have fled the scene following the incident, Kelambakkam police have arrested children to avail more details.
The residents of the colony, with most of them being Dalits feel discriminated over the abusive and deteriorating treatment by police. “We only wanted peaceful protests. The woman got carried away as they suffered the beatings from their drunkard husbands. This is not a premeditated violence,” said Chengai Anandan, a resident. “The inspector is aggravating the issue as they are Dalits. The men in the village are taking shelter in various parts, frightened over the police harassment,” Anandan added.
On Tuesday evening, women police allegedly barged into the colonies and used abusive words. “There is no decency in their words. Is it because we are Dalits that they use harsh words?” questioned Sumathi, another resident. Inspector of Kelambakkam police station A. Govindaraj denied the accusations as he said, “We have no strength to send police personnel on night rounds. People are provoked by the vested interests in the locality. I am a caste-free person.”
It is unfortunate that the government bodies to conduct an enquiry is facing a huge staff crunch crisis.
“The chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Commission for Women remains vacant since January 2016. All the posts in TN Commission for protection of child rights are lying vacant after the chairperson’s tenure expired a year ago. Tenure of the six members had also expired last month. The staff crunch is creating a huge disparity in addressing the women and child related grievances,”
--Andrew Sesuraj, Child rights activist.
