On June 9, 2016, Dalit writer Durai Guna woke up at 5am to the police on his doorstep, come to arrest him. Released on bail on June 20, Guna has alleged that the police arrested him on false charges of attempting to murder a loan defaulter.
The Superintendent of Police of Pudukottai had said on June 10 that Durai had quarreled with a person over a loan, following which Durai and a friend had allegedly attacked the loan defaulter.
Durai, however, denies ever having either given or taken any loans from anyone. Talking to The News Minute, he explains, “I do not even know the person whom the police is charging me of attacking over a loan.”
He claims that a false case has been laid against him because of things he had written in his first novel “Oorar Varaindha Ooviyam”. “I have written in the book about all the illegal things that happen in Kulandarampattu village like sale of illegal liquor and much more,” he says.
This is not the first time that Durai has been arrested. He says, “The Pudukottai police had arrested me in 2015 in another case of attempt to murder. Then also, I did not know the victim.”
He blames Inspector Sagayam Anbarasan for the arrests. “Last year too he was the one who arrested me. He has been very angry with me since the novel was released in 2014,” he says.
Earlier his wife, Kokila had told The News Minute, “I strongly suspect that the arrest is due to the careful planning by the Inspector himself. He has been turning a blind eye to all our complaints over the last two years. But was quick to assume we were at fault whenever a complaint was made against us.”
In his book, Durai narrates the story of a Dalit agricultural labourer, Sankaran, who faces caste discrimination at the hands of caste-Hindu Kallars. Durai says he was ostracized from the Dalit community after he wrote the book.
What is most troubling for Durai, is that he does not have the resources to fight the case, while even his own Dalit community in the village is not supporting him. He has been fighting the case with the help of an organization called Evidence.
As on June 10, there were eight cases pending against the author with regard to his novel.