Case primary details

Fact finding date

Case Incident details

Case summary

Balan, son of Ravi (36), a Hindu tribal (Kurumbar) community from Kallur forest village in Kotagiri district, Nilgiris district, is residing with his wife Baby (28) and a 15-day-old baby boy. He works for wages and supports his family with the proceeds.

Balan has been working for more than 15 years with occasional advances and working in a tourist lodge called Raj kudil Veedu (Tent House) which is permanently set up below the college, Chattu Garden, Aadupattu. The Tent House is run by Madhan, a member of the Badugar community. Since Madhan’s uncle was not properly maintaining the accounts he used to call Balan and ask for the same. Thus Madhan has been angry with Balan.

Meanwhile, five identified whose names were unknown tourists stayed in the above mentioned tent on 18-07-2021. At around 9.00 pm that night, Madhan along with others (who were drunk) asked for campfire and Balan had brought firewood and lit a fire and sat in a nearby chair

On seeing this, Madhan grabbed Balan's shirt and dragged him to the dining room and hit Balan on the head with a wooden log.  As a result, the back of Balan's skull was fractured and bleeding. The five tourists who saw this together attacked Balan. One of them cut the left side of Balan with an onion cutting knife. Balan suffered an abrasion to his right eyebrow and eye when he was hit by others. Murthy and Mallika from the tribal community were present when the incident took place. Seeing the attack, the two flee away.

Balan then fled to his home, about 1 km away, unable to bear the pain. He told his wife about the incident and went to the Kothagiri Government Hospital the next day (19-07-2021) at around 1.30 pm with the help of his relatives. He told the doctor who examined him about the incident. Later that day he was admitted as an inpatient.

While Balan was being treated as an inpatient, Madan's aunt Lalitha, Madan's mother Burmila and Madan's sister Lalli demanded that the case be withdrawn. Balan's refused it andMadan's uncle Shivaji went to the hospital on 19-07-2021 at around 3.00 pm and threatened to cut off Balan's brother Rangasamy's neck and arm if he did not withdraw the complaint. Similarly, Balan's sister Chitra has also been threatened to withdraw the complaint.

A case has been registered under sections 294 (b), 324, 506 (II) IPC of the Code No. 180/2021 at the Kotagiri police station in connection with the incident.