Courtesy: Priyanka Thirumurthy, The News Minute
“Vanniyars Muthuvel, Ajith & Seth in 2020 allegedly abused and murdered a Dalit woman. The police ignored evidence & called it a suicide. They were the 3 sons of a Vanniyar man with whom the victim had been in a relationship. Disapproving of this relationship, the sons had previously publicly stripped & abused her. The police discredited the victim’s family by claiming that she had called the Vanniyar man for liquor before dying, thereby making moral assumptions on her character ( women who drink liquor as loose). ”
On July 4, 2020 a 40-year-old Dalit woman from the Sriraman village in Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu, had left her house at around noon to take a bath. When she didn’t return for a long time, her father went in search of her. He found his daughter’s body near a local temple which fell under the limits of the Cuddalore district. Her family believes, due to a history of casteist violence she has faced, and due to the conditions in which she was found, that she was raped and murdered by a group of Vanniyar caste men, but the police claim that it was a suicide.
Although historically associated with agricultural labour and classified by the government as a backward class, Vanniyars have increasing influence in Tamil Nadu as they have gradually moved to own more and more land. Vanniyar political organizations, such as the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) have been known for anti-Dalit mobilizations and violence.
The victim had reportedly been in a relationship for the past 2 to 5 years (sources vary) with a man named Palani, a 45-year-old widower from the Vanniyar caste. His sons Muthuvel, Ajith Kumar, and Seth, were against the relationship and had inflicted casteist violence on her five months prior to her death. They had stripped her and tied her to an electricity pole, after which they beat her and hurled caste slurs at her. They forced her family to apologize and promise to them that she will discontinue the relationship.
According to witnesses’ accounts and reports, she was found tied to the tree while she was kneeling, her clothes were in a disarray and had blood on them. However, the police claimed that it was a suicide, and did not send the body for a post-mortem until 300 villagers protested outside the police station two days after her death. According to the Panchayat President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in the area, Palani had called her on that day as well. The VCK was formerly known as the Dalit Panthers Iyyakam in Tamil Nadu, a movement inspired by the Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra.
The police blamed the violence on the victim and erased her and her family’s experience of casteist violence by not only claiming that she had committed suicide without a satisfactory investigation, but further claiming that she had called Palani from another woman’s phone at noon on that day asking for liquor. A claim like this, although made without substantial evidence and irrelevant to ascertaining whether or not she committed suicide, shifts the onus on the family to defend her from this blame.
References:
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/dalit-woman-found-dead-tn-village-family-alleges-sexual-harassment-and-murder-128063
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2020/jul/07/cuddalore-dalit-woman-raped-murdered-over-affair-2166370.html
