A bizzarre rule set by a panchayat in Tirunelveli district's Gowthamapuri village, has led to the murder of a 45-year-old man on Tuesday. Madhiazhagan, the victim, was brutally assaulted by 10 members of the village because his family didn't pay Rs.1500 to the village panchayat, despite a member having had a love marriage. In this family's case, the refusal to pay Rs 1,500 had angered the panchayat and they asked the family to pay Rs 1,00,000 instead.
As per rules set by the village panchayat 10 years ago, any love marriage in the village incurred a fine of Rs.1500 which was used to fund events and programmes in Gowthamapuri. In this recent case, the victim's niece had had a love marriage two years ago. But her father Ravi (40) had refused to comply with the village's rule and had not paid the Rs.1500.
"Ironically, it was Ravi who set this rule 10 years ago, when he was Panchayat chief," says Ambasamudram Deputy Superintendent of police, Subhashini. But over the years, the police had made repeated attempts against this practice of extortion. In 2018, the DSP herself had formed a peace committee to put an end to the practice, but to no avail. "Whenever we try to interrogate the matter, the villagers will attempt to protect each other and claim they were not paying," she alleges.
The police's efforts however seem to have had an effect on Ravi because he refused to give in to the panchayat's demands. But angered by his refusal, the panchayat demanded that he now pay Rs.1,00,000 as a fine for delaying payment.
On Monday, 10 villagers arrived at his doorstep and they got into a heated argument. Things soon went out of hand, and the villagers assaulted the family, grievously injuring Madhiazhagan. He was taken to the Tirunelveli government hospital for treatment but succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday.
Reports claim that the police had failed to take action against the villagers despite Ravi complaining about coercion and threats.
The DSP however says, "He would come to give a complaint but everytime we start enquiring he wouldn't cooperate. We have however repeatedly warned villagers against continuing this practice. There is no logic to this."
The senior police officer further adds that she has never seen such a practice in her service before. The police have currently arrested 8 of the 10 attackers and they have been booked for attempt to murder and murder based on their role in the death.