Dalits, belonngin to Madiga (SC) community are not allowed to enter any of the three temples and the two hotels in the village. At the hotels they are compelled to sit outside, where they are served tea and water in vessels separate from those used by the rest of the community.

There are three temples in Thettu village – Venugopala Swamy, Ramalayam and Paletamma Gudi. Thettu Dalits are prohibited from entering all three. Dalits are also not allowed into the village’s two hotels, which are both located in the dominant caste locality. Dalits who come to the hotel are served water and tea in glasses separate from those used by the rest of the village. After drinking, the Dalits are compelled to clean the glasses themselves and return them to the roof of the hotel. Those Dalits who have questioned these practices of untouchability have received threats from dominant caste individuals and have consequently decided not to file a complaint with the police.

On 22.9.99, Dalits of Pedakalikri held a Vinayaka procession that caused temporary delays for traffic bound for Chittoor town. Dominant caste youth Venu Naidu, annoyed by the delay, descended from the bus he was riding to attack and abuse by caste name Dalits in the procession. The Dalits eventually restrained him. Bearing a grudge, Naidu returned to his village, gathered his relatives, and attacked the Dalit colony of Pedakalikri the next morning. Naidu and his relations seriously injured the shoulder of Dhananjayulu and chopped off the hands of Mogili Eswar.

Pedakalikri village is located fifteen kilometers from the district headquarters, Chittoor. The majority of the Dalit families of Pedakalikri work at the sugar factory in Chittoor. With the decent wages they earn at the factory, they have been able to provide a minimum education for their children. The women of the Dalit community have also been very active in promoting developmental activities and Dalit issues. Among other things, they played a vital role in the anti-arrack movement in the district (arrack is a cheap, often adulterated liquor). These and other factors contributed to the Pedakalikri Dalit community’s growing self-respect and confidence. However, as is often the case in modern India, the dominant caste community found the increasing self-reliance of the Dalit community objectionable, and responded with acts of intimidation and violence in an effort to reaffirm the traditional social hierarchy. Since local government machinery consists of primarily dominant caste officials, dominant caste perpetrators of violence against Dalits often enjoy freedom from legal consequences. An instance cited in Pedakalikri is that of a dominant caste youth who raped a Dalit girl in the 1980s, but, due to his social position, was able to avoid legal prosecution.

The Vinayaka festival is traditionally initiated and organized by the caste Hindu community with the Dalits performing as dappu players. For Dalits to initiate and organize their own independent Vinayaka festival goes squarely against caste Hindu custom and dogma. That caste Hindu resentment against Dalits for this breach of their traditional religious authority and “superiority” may have been a factor in the attack cannot be ignored.

On 22 September 1999, the Dalits of Pedakalikri village held a traditional religious procession in which a statue of the god Vinayaka was carried to a water tank and immersed. Crowds filled the village’s narrow streets as they followed the tractor that carried the Vinayaka statue. A public bus proceeding towards Chittoor had to stop for a short time due to the resultant congestion on the main road. While the Dalits were clearing the road for the bus, Venu Naidu, a dominant caste boy from the adjacent village of C.M. Kandrika, got down from the bus and began abusing the Dalits by caste name. He proceeded to beat two Dalits, until other Dalits in the crowd pushed him away and restrained him. Dalit elders then intervened to calm hot tempers on both sides. Venu Naidu, however, left the scene feeling insulted that he, from an “upper” caste, should receive such treatment from Dalits. Immediately upon his return to his native village, he gathered all his relatives and planned to attack the Dalit colony of Pedakalikri with lethal weapons. Around 8:30 the next morning, 23 September 1999, Venu Naidu, Thirumal Naidu, Bhasker Naidu, Niranjan Naidu and other dominant caste associates of Venu Naidu, went to Pedakalikri. They came upon a group of several Dalits, none of whom were present at the previous day’s Vinayaka procession, sitting at the village Raccha Banda (common meeting place). The Naidus attacked them with weapons, causing serious injuries to the shoulder and hand of a tractor driver named Dhanajayulu, and chopping off the hands of a law student named Mogili Eswar. Dhananjayulu’s father Chenaiah registered a complaint with the police who filed a case under sec. 147, 148, 326 r/w. 149 IPC and sec. 3(1)(x) SC/ST Act, and arrested the culprits. 

When dominant caste villagers refused to allow a religious procession to pass through the Dalit colony, Dalit villagers announced that they would no longer play the dappu (drum) for dominant caste functions. Later, when Dalit village servant Jayappa played the dappu to make an official village announcement, dominant caste villagers attacked and beat him. The dominant castes then imposed a social boycott on the whole Dalit community. Karutlapalli village, 25 km from Anantpur district headquarters, consists of Kamma, Boya, Golla and Dalit communities. In recent years, Dalits have been migrating to the nearby state of Karnataka for employment. Several Dalits have taken advantage of nearby government facilities and obtained an education up to the twelfth standard. Panchayat reservations enabled Dalit Ramanjaneyulu to become the village sarpanch. Through education and the availability of outside employment, Karutlapalli Dalits have become less dependent on local dominant caste landlords and have begun to resist the domination of the landlord community.

In September 1999, when dominant caste villagers asked Dalit villagers to play the dappu (drum) for a procession during the Peerla Panduga festival, the Dalits agreed on the condition that the procession should also pass through the Dalit colony. The dominant caste organizers of the festival accepted this proposal. However, once the procession began dominant caste villagers abused the Dalits by caste name and barred the procession from entering the Dalit colony. At that point, the Dalits met and resolved, from that time onwards, not to perform the dappu for the dominant castes. The Dalits informed the dominant caste community of their decision and also declared that they were no longer willing to work for the dominant castes as bonded labourers.

A few days later, the local revenue officer asked forty-year old village servant Jayappa, a Dalit, to inform the village that rice was available at the fair price shop. As is the custom when making a routine, village-wide announcement (dandora), Jayappa proceeded through the village playing the dappu and announcing the relevant information. As he passed through the dominant caste part of the village, the residents questioned him as to why he was playing the dappu when the Dalits had said they would no longer play it. A group of dominant caste villagers then surrounded Jayappa in the street, attacked and beat him. Following the attack on Jayappa, the dominant caste and backward caste communities imposed a social boycott on the Dalits. The caste communities denied Dalits employment in the village and access to the government fair price shop. In September 1999, when dominant caste villagers asked Dalit villagers to play the dappu (drum) for a procession during the Peerla Panduga festival, the Dalits agreed on the condition that the procession should also pass through the Dalit colony. The dominant caste organisers of the festival accepted this proposal. However, once the procession began dominant caste villagers abused the Dalits by caste name and barred the procession from entering the Dalit colony. At that point, the Dalits met and resolved, from that time onwards, not to perform the dappu for the dominant castes. The Dalits informed the dominant caste community of their decision and also declared that they were no longer willing to work for the dominant castes as bonded labourers.

A few days later, the local revenue officer asked forty-year old village servant Jayappa, a Dalit, to inform the village that rice was available at the fair price shop. As is the custom when making a routine, village-wide announcement (dandora), Jayappa proceeded through the village playing the dappu and announcing the relevant information. As he passed through the dominant caste part of the village, the residents questioned him as to why he was playing the dappu when the Dalits had said they would no longer play it. A group of dominant caste villagers then surrounded Jayappa in the street, attacked and beat him. Following the attack on Jayappa, the dominant caste and backward caste communities imposed a social boycott on the Dalits. The caste communities denied Dalits employment in the village and access to the government fair price shop.

When Dalits refused to carry the Kumbham, a ritual pot containing a mixture of rice and buffalo blood, for a 16 September 1999 festival of the caste Hindu village deity, the dominant caste Naidu community imposed a complete social boycott on the Dalit community. Gotipalla village is an agricultural community in which chilli and cotton are the chief crops. 150 high caste Naidu families dominate the village. They, along with about ten other dominant caste families, own two thousand acres of land. Almost all of the eighty Dalit families are landless and employed in agricultural labour or stone quarrying. One Dalit works as a bus conductor. There are five Dalits who studied up to the tenth standard and one who studied up to intermediate class. The president, vice president and village committee – all coming from dominant castes – of Gotipalla village panchayat have consistently denied Dalits any power-sharing opportunity.

On 16 September 1999 the dominant caste community decided to conduct Sattemma Jatara, a festival and buffalo sacrifice to the village deity. This festival had not been performed in recent years. Villagers felt that their neglect of the Jatara had brought on the spate of deaths from dysentery that had recently afflicted their village. For the buffalo sacrifice, the dominant caste organisers of the Jatara asked the Dalit community to ritually axe the animal’s head and then carry the kumbham. The kumbham is the earthenware pot, containing rice mixed with the blood of the sacrificial buffalo that is carried to the village outskirts along with a mud figure of the deity. Local Hindu tradition dictates that only Dalits must perform the ritually “impure” duties of cutting the throat of the buffalo and carrying the kumbham. On this occasion, however, leaders of the Dalit community agreed only to sacrifice the buffalo, but not to carry the kumbham. The dominant caste community was enraged that the Dalits would presume to set their own terms for participation in the festival. As a punishment for the Dalits’ refusal to carry the khumbham, the dominant caste majority imposed a total social boycott upon the Dalits beginning that very day. By the rules of the boycott, all community Dalits were denied employment. The dominant castes also ordered the entire non-Dalit community to refuse Dalits access to hotels, provision stores, medical stores, etc. The Naidus who organised and initiated the boycott announced that anyone who would extend help to the Dalits would be fined Rs. 5000, effectively ensuring the participation of all non-Dalits in the village. The dominant castes even ejected the government dealer from the village. During the course of the social boycott, the dominant castes also attacked and injured Dalits.

Dalits officially named the following dominant caste persons as the primary perpetrators in the attack and imposition of the social boycott:  Polakam Tripurayy, Ada Venkaiah, Pedikella Kotaiah,  Puli Chinna Lingayya, Redbalapalli Anjayya, Challa China Kotiah, Ramasu Ramanjaneyulu , Pedikella Papayya ,  Polakam – Budda Anjaiah ,  Polakam Chandraia . Though the Dalits registered a complaint with the Veludurti Police Circle Inspector (CI) and the VAO soon after the boycott began, the CI and SI did not visit the village until five days later, 21 September. Two days later still, the CI registered the FIR, but based the FIR not on the complaint registered person ally by the Dalits, but on the report of the dominant caste VAO. The CI also did not register the case under the proper laws. Instead of registering the case under the SC/ST Act, he registered the case under section 7(1) of Protection of Civil Rights Act and section 6 of State Animal and Bird Sacrifice Prohibition Act. Unlike the SC/ST Act, the PCRA has weak punitive measures and makes no provision for economic compensation to the victims.

The Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti state and district level leaders visited the village and expressed solidarity with the victims. Dalit Bahujan Front leaders also visited the village and condemned the boycott. Human Rights Organizations SAKSHI and Human Rights Forum visited the village and conducted a fact-finding investigation. But despite the fact that numerous civil rights and Dalit organizations have condemned the boycott, the accused as of 30.9.99 had not yet been arrested and district officials such as the SP and the District Collector had not visited the village.