"The everyday agony of the 'inferiorised and tortured' self of being a Dalit was effectively set aside," he argued, offering categorical rebuttals to several observations made by the commission. In one paper, Illiberal State and the Myth of Civil Society, a critical analysis of the Justice Sampath Commission report, University of Hyderabad's Sociology Department Professor R Thirunavukkarasu argued that the commission looked at the entire episode mostly from the prism of administrative apparatus. To access the reports from the Secretariat Library (reference section), approval of the Legislative Assembly Speaker is mandatory.Ī collection of research papers called 'Interrogating Enquiry Commission Reports on Caste Violence' published in 'Review of Development & Change' has shed light on lapses in four reports submitted by inquiry commissions set up by Tamil Nadu governments. "If it is politically controversial, then one cannot access a document," the official said. An official informed that the reports can be accessed only on approval from the Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research.
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The New Indian Express found that there are a series of rigmaroles to surpass if one has to access the reports from Tamil Nadu Archives, located in Chennai's Egmore. Most outcomes of the commissions were predictable and in favour of the State, Prof Lakshmanan said. As many as 28 commissions headed by retired judges were set up to investigate various incidents, 14 of which involved alleged violence by police. Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) Professor C Lakshmanan said that Tamil Nadu, compared with other States, has set up the highest number of inquiry commissions on violence against Dalits, starting 1968, the year when Justice Ganapathy Pillai Commission was set up to investigate the Keezhvenmani massacre (A total of 44 Dalits, including women and children, were locked inside a hut and set on fire by upper-caste landlords in this incident).Ĭorroborating the claim, Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO, shared a list of inquiry commissions set up by both DMK and AIADMK governments since 1991. Despite crores of rupees of public money spent on producing the reports, people like Ezhil do not have easy access to these documents. But, not many of them, particularly the controversial ones, are accessible to the public. Most in these communities are day labourers and farmhands.Īccording to researchers and academicians, Tamil Nadu is regarded as a State that has set up the highest number of inquiry commissions, most of them on caste violence. These relatives of those killed in Paramakudi and around three of the 13 killed in Thoothukudi firing belong to Dalit communities of southern Tamil Nadu. It had said most injuries and bullets were found above the waist of the victims. Its preliminary report had argued that the police firing was not preceded by the mandatory lathi-charge and use of teargas. Immediately after the incident, People's Watch, a Madurai-based independent organisation, had deployed a fact-finding team to probe the incident. However, the commission rejected his allegations saying video recordings unambiguously proved him wrong.
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The lawyer had also said the police did not follow the Supreme Court mandated procedures of using water cannon, firing rubber bullets, and firing warning shots in the air before opening fire on the unarmed agitators. Notably, the commission under retired justice K Sampath, constituted the same month to investigate the Paramakudi police firing, justified the action saying it was carried out in "self-defence" by police.Įxcerpts of the report accessed by The New Indian Express reveals that Pasumalai, a lawyer practising in Paramakudi, had recorded his statements before the commission saying that no warning was issued before caning protesters. The report was tabled in the State Legislative Assembly in October 2013.
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Nearly a decade after the Paramakudi firing, the relatives, forced to settle for compensations, await justice and are kept in the dark about the findings of the report (Justice Sampath Commission) and the exact reasons behind the targeting of their relatives. Seven persons were killed (six Dalits) and several others were injured that day. Similarly, Ezhil (name changed and gender protected), a relative of another victim of another police-firing incident in Tamil Nadu, holds back an avalanche of emotions while talking about her kin who was killed during the Paramakudi police firing on September 11, 2011.