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Five women from the Kuravan community, recognised as Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu, have raised allegations of sexual harassment and torture against police officers in Andhra Pradesh’s Puthalapattu police station in Chittoor, following which six police personnel including a sub-inspector were booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and transferred.
On Friday, July 21, the Tamil Pazhangudi Kuravan Sangam (a Kuravan community association), along with the survivors of the alleged torture, met Shankar Jiwal, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP), and urged him to dismiss the accused police personnel and transfer the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since the police from two states failed to protect them.
The alleged incidents panned out between June 7 and June 12, when 10 Tamil Kuravan individuals including five women and two children were detained by the Chittoor police in connection with a suspected case of theft. The men and women were then allegedly beaten with PVC pipes and tied to the table in the godowns located at the back end of the Puthalapattu police station, and at the godown in the district police training centre in Chittoor. The use of casteist slurs by the police is also alleged by the survivors. “Among them, three persons’ hands were tied with their legs. Two of them were women. The police put chili powder on their noses, ears, mouths, and genitals. The women were raped by the police,” reads the complaint given by the Tamil Pazhangudi Kuravan Sangam to the DGP.
Ramesh, state president of Tamizh Pazhangudi Kuravan Sangam, says it was not easy for the women to seek medical assistance as they were released late at night. But, they went to the Krishnagiri Government Medical College Hospital and got themselves. "We hoped that the government would take action against the perpetrators and waited for a month. But nothing had changed and no actions have been taken besides just filing a First Information Report. So we decided to approach the DGP to get justice," Ramesh told TNM.
The complaint further demands the revocation of the allegedly fake complaints filed against the detainees, and grant an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 25 lakh each to them.
The detainees were arrested in connection with a suspected case of theft involving 4 kgs of gold theft crime. “They were brought to various medium-level gold jewelry shops in Uthangarai, Kallavi of Tamil Nadu, and Jigani in Karnataka’s Bengaluru, and asked to accept that they sold the looted gold to these shops. Later, the police negotiated with the shop owners to extort 100 to 200 sovereigns of gold from each shop,” alleges the complaint. It also mentions that the shop owners were brought to the godowns where the complainants were kept to give gold and money to the police.
Talking about the local police’s involvement in this matter, the Kuravan association alleged that Parthiban, Uthangarai Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), and Balamurugan, police inspector of the Mathur station, delayed the process of filing a complaint against the Chittoor police officers in an attempt to support them.
The incident came to light on the night of June 16, after the detainees left the police station around 11 pm to their village Puliyandipatti. After they reached their village, the adults revealed that they were subjected to brutal custodial torture. Based on the statement given by them, a case has been registered under Sections 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 376 (2) (rape by police officer) of Indian Penel Code and Section 3(2)(va) of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act on June 19.
