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Thulasimani and Moorthy were abused and assaulted as their 8 year old son poured water, spilled on the legs of caste Hindu Balakrishnan

Moorthy (38), his wife Thulasimani (28) belongs to Dalit Arunthathiyar community, residing in Pudupalayam, Uthukuli taluk, Tiruppur district. They have two children namely Elango (8 – 3^rd std) and Nivetha (6-2^nd std). Moorthy and Thulasimani were working as tailors in Balamurugan Garments located in Karatupalayam, Perunthurai taluk, Erode district.

On 03/05/2014, as it is holiday for their son Elango (8), they took him to their workplace. During the break, they went to Amman Garments located in the top floor to drink water. They gave water to Elango in a water bottle. After drinking the water, Elango poured the remaining water on the tiled roof of the nearby house. The water drained down the roof and spilled on the leg of the Balakrishnan s/o Mani, belongs to dominant caste Hindu Kounder community. Balakrishnan came out of the house and shouted at them saying, you bugger why you pouring water over us? how dare you  do this? On noticing this Moorthy and Thulasimani apologized saying that their little son mistakenly poured water and we will ensure that he won’t repeat this mistake. But Balakrishnan verbally abused him saying, you Sakkili son of prostitute, will your apology remove the dishonor meted out to me.  When Moorthy came down the stairs to normalize the issue, Balakrishnan pushed him towards the window and assaulted him. On hearing this, Thulasimani went to his rescue and again apologized for the mistake of their son. Balakrishnan and his father Mani started verbally abusing them referring derogatory regarding caste. Balakrishnan caught hold of Thulasimani by her hair and slapped her thrice. When Moorthy tried to stop the assault on his wife, Mani held his neck and thrashed him over the wall. On hearing the noice, other workers of the company namely Rajesh, Sekar, Duraisamy and others came to their rescue and separated them.

When the owner of the Garments Company Mr. Rajesh arrived, they reported this atrocity to him. Rajesh advised them to lodge a complaint regarding this. Hence Moorthy and Thulasimani with the help of Thulasimani brother Viswanathan, lodged a complaint in the Sennimalai Police station. Then the Police Inspector filed an case under FIR No. 115/2014 u/s 323 of IPC, Section 4 of Women Harassment Act 2002 and section 3(1)(x) of SC/ST PoA Act, 1989 and reported this atrocity to the DSP. Based on the complaint, DSP visited the place of incidents, made an enquiry with the victims, witnesses and the accused. Then they arrested the two perpetrators. Thulasimani who sustained injury over her cheek, was given medical treatment in the Perunthurai Government Hospital. Both the perpetrators were kept in jail for 12 days and were released on bail.

On their release they tried to intimidate the victims and the witnesses to withdraw the complaint and to refuse to give witness to the incident.

FINDINGS:

1. On 03/05/2014, Moorthy and Thulasimani were subject to brutal atrocity as their 8 year old son poured water spilled on the legs of Balakrishnan. Balakrishnan and his father Mani verbally abused them referring derogatory regarding caste. Moorthy and Thulasimani expressed apology on behalf of their son. But Balakrishnan and Mani, who considered that pouring water on them by a Dalit as a serious disrespect to their caste dignity, verbally abused and brutally assaulted them.

2. Thulasimani was subject to physical abuse derogatory to woman dignity. She was held by her hair and was repeatedly slapped by Balakrishnan. Moorthy was also attacked and thrashed towards the wall. The perpetrators orchestrated this atrocity in front of the general public.

3. Balamurugan Garments owner stood by the victims and encouraged them to lodge a complaint. The employees of the company who witnessed this assault, came to the victims support. This moral support gave them the confidence to lodge a complaint, leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

4. As per Section 15A (5) of the PoA Amendment Ordinance 2014, the victims shall be entitled to be heard in respect to grant of bail, release or parole of an accused. But this provision (Right of the Victim) was ignored in this atrocity case. The accused men were granted bail under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. On their release, Balakrishnan and Mani started intimidating the victims and the witnesses to dilute the case.  

5. Though the Sennimalai Police Inspector filed an FIR without any delay, they have not invoked the appropriate sections of the recently promulgated SC/ST PoA Amendment Ordinance, 2014. Appropriate sections such as 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(1)(w-ii) of PoA Ordinance 2014 should have been invoked regarding this atrocity.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. District Administration should provide compensation and protection to the victims and witnesses regarding this atrocity.

2. Appropriate sections of the IPC such as Section 354A (for sexually colored remarks), Section 506 (ii) (for criminal intimidation), Section 3(1)r) and 3(1)(s) of PoA Amendment Ordinance 2014 should be invoked regarding this atrocity.

3. The accused on the release on bail, they started intimidating the victims and witnesses to derail the charge. Hence the police department should cancel their bail order and imprison them to avoid any more mental or physical agony to the victims.