The following has been excerpted with permission from the book Tuticorin: Adventures in Tamil Nadu’s Crime Capital by V Sudarshan, published by Juggernaut. The book is based on the author’s, a journalist, recollections of retired DGP Anoop Jaiswal’s posting in Thoothukudi in the 1980s.
The stories are centred around the experiences of an idealistic young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Anoop Jaiswal, who retired as the Director General of Police (DGP), and considered a misfit in the larger system. All the incidents you read about occurred between January 1981, when Jaiswal joined the Police Academy with stars in his eyes, and 1989, when his posting in Tuticorin ended.
EXCERPT
Content warning: Suicide, murder.
The local inspector from the Srivaikundam subdivision brought an accused to Tuticorin to get her admitted to the general hospital. The injuries on her were far too serious for the local PHC to manage. She was a menial labourer, with two children; the elder one was not even three years old. Her husband had abandoned her after she became pregnant for the third time.
She had developed some pregnancy-related complications and had not been able to go out for work. For a while, her neighbours had helped her out. Not being able to feed her children, and not being able to bear the sight of their hunger, she decided to end her life as well as that of her children.
She took them to an open well. It was a deep body of water, with a small bank below and a track leading down to it. The land surrounding the well rose steeply, in some places about ten to fifteen feet high. From that height, she pushed her children into the water one after the other, fighting their resistance and tears.
She wept as they drowned and then threw herself into the well, too. When she hit the water, she did not drown because she could swim a little, and instinct made her pull herself out. In the water, the bodies of her children began to float face down as the ripples settled. Seeing her dead children, she became desperate to end her life, and she climbed up again, this time to a rocky, higher bank. She jumped again.
She hit the side of the bank as she fell into the water and was injured by the shrubs that grew near the outcrop; swathes of her skin were scratched off by the rock as she fell down into the water. Again, her ability to float prevented her from drowning.
She trod the ground and dragged herself up the bank, and again she jumped. This time too she didn’t drown, and according to the inspector, broke her hips and suffered a miscarriage instead. She was found unconscious and bleeding and taken to the PHC. The post-mortem was done on the bodies of the children. Their deaths had been caused by drowning.
Jaiswal went to the hospital, and the doctor said she would pull through. When she could eventually talk, she blamed herself for what had happened, that she had killed her children because she had seen no hope for herself, for them or for the unborn child she had been carrying in her womb.
The inspector told the SP that he was unable to register a case against her, except attempted suicide, Section 309. It would be pathetic if he did, and he didn’t want to.
About the author: V Sudarshan is a journalist and author of the non-fiction narratives, Dead End: The Minister, the CBI and the Murder That Wasn’t; Adrift: A True Story of Survival at Sea, and Anatomy of an Abduction: How the Indian Hostages in Iraq Were Freed. He also writes short stories. He lives in Mumbai.
You can buy the book here.
If you are aware of anyone facing mental health issues or feeling suicidal, please provide help. Here are some helpline numbers of suicide-prevention organisations that can offer emotional support to individuals and families.
Tamil Nadu
State health department's suicide helpline: 104
Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre - 044-24640050 (listed as the sole suicide prevention helpline in Tamil Nadu)
Andhra Pradesh
Life Suicide Prevention: 78930 78930
Roshni: 9166202000, 9127848584
Karnataka
Sahai (24-hour): 080 65000111, 080 65000222
Kerala
Maithri: 0484 2540530
Chaithram: 0484 2361161
Both are 24-hour helpline numbers.
Telangana
State government's suicide prevention (tollfree): 104
Roshni: 040 66202000, 6620200
SEVA: 09441778290, 040 27504682 (between 9 am and 7 pm
Aasara offers support to individuals and families during an emotional crisis, for those dealing with mental health issues and suicidal ideation, and to those undergoing trauma after the suicide of a loved one.
24x7 Helpline: 9820466726
Click here for working helplines across India.