Thirumalaisamy (29) belonging to dalit Arunthathiyar community, is a resident of Thaerpatti Village, Tarapuram Taluk, Tirupur District. He is working as a Mason. On 05/11/2010, while he was herding his goats in the nearby field, one Senthil belonging to caste Hindu Kounder community, who along with his friends drinking alcohol and playing cards, shouted at him saying, “how dare a sakkili wore a dhothi showing his thighs, in the presence of us”. He verbally abused him and referred derogatory regarding caste. Thirumalaisamy objected the verbal abuse and replied that he is comfortable with this type of wearing. Hence infuriated and intolerant Senthil assaulted Thirumalaisamy. When Thirumalasamy retaliate against the attack, A. Muthurathinam, M. Muthurathinam, V. Arunachalam, Nathchimuthu and Subbu, all 6 joined Senthil and brutally assaulted him.

Then again around 20 caste hindus in the neighbourhood gathered together under former Panchayat President and AIADMK Secretary Mr. Palanisamy, started attacking the Dalits in the colony with the deadly weapons. They vandalized the Thirumalasamy’s house destroying Table Fan, windows, and doors. Kala (28) was sexually assaulted by the perpetrators. Balan, Murugan, Kattammal (55) and other Dalits, who came to the rescue of Kala were also brutally assaulted. When the injured victims called the ambulance emergency number 108 to get treatment, the perpetrators stopped the ambulance on the way and lied that they were attacked by dalits and reached the hospital. They lodged a false complaint against the victims. The injured victims Kattammal, Bala and Murugan were admitted in the hospital on 05/11/2010 and were receiving treatment until 08/11/2010.

Thirumalaisamy who was severely injured was not given proper medical treatment. When he approached the Lingyam Police Station, Mr. Rasu threatened him. Sub Inspector of Tarapuram Police Station, chased away the victims when they tried to lodge a complaint against the perpetrators. 

Both the accused and victim lives in the Railway quarter and the accused called the victim as Harijan and branded as untouchable

Legal Standard Breached:

1.       Everyone has the right of life, liberty and security of person [Art. 3 UDHR and Art. 5(b) CERD].
2.       General recommendation 19 of CEDAW relates to gender-based violence and recommends amongst other things that states should take all legal and other measures that are necessary to provide effective protection of women against gender-based violence including effective legal measures (including penal sanctions), preventive measures (including public information and education programs) and protective measures. 

Sultanpet is home to nearly 100 Arunthathiyar families. In 2002, some 5 people belonging to Caste hindu Gounder community bought 5 acres of land and named it as Jeeva Nagar. Sultanpet Arunthathiyars can reach Managalam panchayat only via Jeeva Nagar.As per the agreement arrived in the past, Sultanpet residents can have access to road to Mangalam panchayat and  Public well. In 2004, exploiting the ignorance/innocence of the dalit Arunthathiyars, Gounder community people with the help of tainted government officials, built a discriminatory wall in pretext of constructing a Petrol Bunk.

On 28/08/2008 and on 25/10/2010, Sultanpet Dalits filed a petitioin with the District Magistrate requesting the demolition of the discriminatory wall. Hence on 30/10/2010, Government officials came with the JCP to demolish the wall. Opposing the demolition of the wall, caste hindu Gounders staged a protest. Inspite of the opposition, the Discriminatory wall was demolished.  

Balasubramanian Dalit student, resident of Sirukadampur village, Gingee Taluk, Villupuram District, became a victim brutal attack due to previous enmity and animosity between dalits and dominant Caste Hindu Vanniyar Community. Six months before, a cricket tournament was organized between Dalit youths and Vanniyar youths, with a prize amount of Rs. 2000. In this match Dalits won the match, but they were not given the prize money. During a Kabbadi tournament, one Vanniyar youth Ramesh harassed a Dalit girl by tapping on her back. When Rajkumar, a dalit enquired about this, it leads to an heated dialogue and ends in a violent clash between both community.

Balasubramanian, used to leave his mobile in a shop close to his college, since students were prohibited to use mobile phone inside the college campus. Due to previous enimity Vanniyar youths who were for a occasion to humiliate and hurt dalits, Balasubramanian seems to a easy prey. Ramesh, a Vanniyar, took away Bala’s mobile and left their mobile. On return the blamed Bala for theft and when Bala enquired about this he was beaten up and verbally abused by Ramesh and his friends.

On 28/10/10, while Balasubramanian was returning home in a bus, 15 Vanniyar youths interrupted him and brutally assaulted him with Iron pipe and Blades. He got severe injury in his head. Balasubramanian informed about this attack to his father. When his father and friend Udayakumar reached the spot and enquired the Vanniyars about the attack, they were also brutally assaulted.

On 28/10/10 Balasubramanian’s father lodged a complaint and FIR was filed on 29/10/10 U/s Section 147, 148, 294b, 373, 374, 506(ii) of IPC and 3(1)(X) of PoA Act. Out of 15 perpetrators, only 6 were arrested. A counter case was filed against dalit youths and 3 dalits were arrested.

The village Naugaya is situated around kilometers from district headquarters Bharatpur and kilometers from Jaipur. Gurjars are dominant in the village as around 70 Gurjar families reside there. 55 Jatav, 30 Brahmin, 15 Yadav, 40 Thakur and 2 Valmiki families also reside in the village. Atrocities on Dalits by the ionfluential caste people are not new here. Dalits here are landless thus have to earn their livelihood by working as laborers. Gurjars are affluent and powerful with a strong political approach. Dalits here are in a miserable condition. As they are not much educated, they mainly work as laborer. The higher caste ill treats Dalits at every step.

Poonam (15 Years) lives in village Naugaya with her parents and siblings. She studies in class 7^th. On the day of incident, i.e. on 28.10.10 Poonam was alone at her home. Her parents went to the fields to work. Her younger brother and sister went to play nearby. Poonam was cleaning the utensils inside her home. As she was sitting in opposite direction to the main entrance of home, she could not see that Rakesh s/o Pooran Singh Gurjar entered her home and hide himself in the room. When after cleaning, Poonam went to the room to keep the utensils in the cupboard Rakesh caught her from behind and flung her onto the floor. When she tried to shout he stuffed her dupatta in her mouth. He tightly held her hands, stripped off her clothes and brutally raped her.  Meanwhile her younger brother Balraj and sister Renu came home to drink water. When they saw Rakesh mistreating with their sister, they started crying and shouting, on which Rakesh beat both of them and ran away from there. Her siblings rushed to their parents to tell them about the whole incident. In the mean time, Poonam’s aunt Hardei was passing by their home. She heard Poonam’s howling and asked her about the matter. Till Poonam’s parents came, she stayed with Poonam. Her parents rushed towards home and came to know about the whole matter. When they were going to police station to lodge FIR against the accused, his whole family surrounded their home, threatened them to be killed and did not allow them to leave the house. For 2 days they were confined in their own house. On 30.10.10 Poonam’s uncle came from Ajmer and took them to police station for lodging the complaint. But police did not entertain them and asked them to come next day. Thus on 31.10.10 their report was lodged and she was sent for medical examination.

Police here did not play any influential role. When victims went to the police station to lodge FIR, they were sent back by the police officials by giving an excuse that computers are not working and asked them to come next day. When the accused and his family blocked their way and did not let them go to lodge FIR even then also police failed to provide any security to them. They were getting continuous threats from the accused side but police did nothing in this regard.

Medical examination of the victim took place on 31.10.10. The medical officer did not give any opinion regarding the occurrence of rape and reserved the opinion for FSL report. The charge sheet against the accused was presented before the court from where the accused was sent on remand and now the case is pending for trial. Culprit’s family tried to pressurize the victim’s family at every step and did not let them register the FIR but somehow it was lodged. The culprit’s family tried to influence victim and her family to withdraw the case. The accused also beat Poonam’s younger brother and sister. Due to this incident, Poonam’s mental condition is not stable. She is so much terrorized that she has confined herself in home and does not talk to anybody. The charge sheet against the culprit was presented before the court of law. Now the case is pending for trial.