It is a story similar in many ways to the ongoing, much-publicised
Best Bakery trial in terms of the chal-
lenges it poses to the criminal justice system.
The Best Bakery trial has rightly been in the media focus given
the backdrop in this case of the genocide in Gujarat. Unfortunately, however,
there is virtually no media attention on the August 1991 massacre of Dalits at
Tsundur in Andhra Pradesh, where the trial finally commenced in December 2004
only to be postponed by two months. The intervening 13 years are a case study in
the determination of the perpetrators of violence to subvert the justice process
in every way: using dilatory tactics to protract the judicial process coupled
with constant threats and allurements to break the resolve of case witnesses.
If the resolve of the witnesses is a tribute to their grit and
determination to ensure the punishment of the guilty, the unconscionable delay
of 13 long years is a severe indictment of our criminal justice system.
Just a year before the Tsundur massacre, the then Prime Minister
VP Singh had announced the implementation of the Mandal Commission report on
August 7, 1990, which the Hindu upper castes vociferously opposed. They took to
the streets. The myth of Hindu tolerance stood exposed. Mandal may not have
helped the Dalits but they were in fact the first to support it. During this
process, as in other parts of the country, Andhra saw many Dalit groups joining
hands with the OBCs. There were talks of a grand Bahujan alliance even in the
villages.
Outraged by the growing self-assertiveness of Dalits, the upper
castes were itching for an opportunity to teach the downtrodden a lesson. And
the Tsundur massacre, among many other mass killings of Dalits, was an
expression of this pent-up fury. Today, 13 years after the ghastly massacre, the
Tsunduru Dalits face a challenge not only from the powerful Reddys locally but
also their masters occupying powerful positions in the state. Andhra Pradesh
politics has long been dominated by two powerful castes. The Reddys, who have
ruled for the most part since Andhra came into being, and the Kammas, who formed
the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to counter Reddy domination. Reddys are the
dominant landowning community in Andhra Pradesh and Dalits have been the biggest
victims of their feudal fantasies.
Tsundur is a small town, a two-hour journey from Vijayawada
city. With a population of over 5,000, Tsundur has clearly demarcated Dalit
localities and upper caste areas. Among the Dalits, the Malas are in a majority
while the Madigas are next in numerical strength. Two Scheduled Tribe
communities, Eurkulas and Yanadis live in the ST colony along the railway track,
while the Dalits live in the nearby Dalitwada, which they have proudly renamed
Ambedkarnagar.
Growing Dalit assertion for dignity and equality increasingly
posed a challenge for the Reddys. Over the years, a large number of Dalits from
Tsundur had joined the Indian Railways in different categories and had started
sending their children to schools. Their homes had electricity and other
essential items hitherto inaccessible to Dalits.
Educated Dalits, particularly those who live in cities, do not
easily bow to the fancies of the upper castes. Tsundur witnessed a similar fight
where for several reasons Dalits came to be better educated than the upper
castes, who, though landed, had lagged behind in education. The boys wore jeans;
the girls attended a degree college, their heads held high. Dalits were not
supposed to sit in the cinema hall but education changed everything. In an
incident symptomatic of the changing times, Dalit youth rushed to the rescue of
upper caste girls who were being teased by boys from their own caste at a cinema
hall in the town. Dalit women and men had started demanding minimum wages and
that was unacceptable. Things had been simmering for many years because the
Dalits were embracing modernity and the Reddys wanted to stick to the age-old
tradition of subjugation.
The government of Andhra Pradesh was under Reddy rule when the
Tsundur massacre took place. Though the then chief minister, Janardhan Reddy
happened to be Christian, a different faith makes no difference. Indians take
their caste along with them when they shift their loyalties to other holy books
and seers. Reddy’s government tried to quietly bury the gory incident but this
did not work.
In all, nine people died in the August 6, 1991 attack. Their
bodies were cut into pieces, put in gunny bags and thrown into Tungbhadra
drainage as well as adjacent canals. Those who died were: Jaladi Mathaiah (40),
Jaladi Imaneul (38), Jaladi Isaac (25), Mallela Subba Rao (35), A. Rajamohan
(25), Sunkuru Samson (28), D. Jayaraj (30), Mundru Ramesh (21) and Mundru
Parisudha Rao (35). Among the injured were Sambaiah (50), P. Jakraiah (52) and
D. Dhanraj (25).
All the Dalits fled from the village following the killings. The
murders were so brutal that Mundru Parisudha Rao, elder brother of Mundru Ramesh,
who went to see the bodies at the hospital in Tenali, was so shocked that he
died of a heart attack. A Dalit doctor who performed the post-mortem examination
on the bodies in Tenali was said to have been so traumatised by the condition of
the bodies that he later committed suicide. Many relatives became
psychologically disturbed.
A survivor, P. Jakraiah, who is now around 75 years of age, is
paralysed and has a memory problem. It is difficult for him to narrate the
incidents that took place in 1991. When a badly injured Jakraiah had asked for
water, they (Reddys) urinated in his hand. Even today, 13 years later, he gets
agitated as he recalls that time.
Another Dalit who survived the lynching mob is D. Dhanraj. His
story of survival is that of a brave and valiant man. A witness to the murder of
five others, Dhanraj himself was beaten mercilessly. His legs and hands were
broken and he was brought to a banana orchard owned by Munanaga Reddy, a
physically disabled person. Dhanraj alleges that since Munanaga was incapable of
running he could not participate in the mass lynching. Hence, to facilitate his
participation in the carnage, Dhanraj was brought to Munanaga’s orchard near the
canal. When a semi-conscious Dhanraj pleaded for water, those guarding him
urinated in his hand. Shortly, his captors went to the nearby bridge across the
canal, leaving Dhanraj in the field. A parched Dhanraj crawled towards the
canal. Jumping into the canal, he was carried away with the current. About a
kilometre downstream he heard the voices of his neighbours and some Dalit women
who had come in search of their men and he cried out for help. They brought
Dhanraj home and then took him to Tenali draped in a saree because the Reddys
refused to allow any men to leave Tsundur even for medical treatment.
Today Dhanraj is a crucial witness among several others. The
children of those killed have since grown up. They have shown great resilience
in the face of adversity, a slap on the face of powerful feudal lords. By and
large, the younger generation are doing exceedingly well. It was heartening to
see girls studying for the BTech, MTech and other post-graduate courses. Most of
Tsundur’s Dalits are government employees. The government has kept to its
promise of a house, an acre of land and a government job for each of the
affected Dalit families.
But the government has not pursued the critical issue of justice
and punishment of the guilty with any seriousness. Perhaps those in power
believed that since they had provided more than adequate compensation the people
would not ask for justice! But the Dalits of Tsundur have formed a committee to
fight against the upper caste attempts to thwart justice. Refusing to go for
hearings to faraway places, they demanded that a special court be set up under
the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in Tsundur. They also demanded
the appointment of public prosecutors of their choice to argue their case in the
special court. Finally, the government announced the setting up of a special
court in Tsundur with a judge belonging to the Dalit community. Fearing
reprisal, the Reddys tried to delay the process adopting various tactics. They
succeeded in transferring the judge.
Another judge was appointed, the hearings began and people
started identifying witnesses. But since the Congress government’s return to
power in Andhra Pradesh in 2004, the Reddys have been feeling more secure. As
soon as the case hearing began in December, the Reddys asked for an adjournment
on account of the coming festival and harvesting season, which the judge
granted.
The hearing is now in the final stage but one does not know when
it will conclude. Summons have been issued for February 25 and the pressure is
no doubt tremendous on the Dalits. There have been several incidents of
allurement as well as threats because the Tsundur case could prove to be a
watershed. It will decide the future course of action on the part of Dalits. It
will also throw light on the functioning of our judicial system. Given the
larger implications of this case, it is a pity that the media is showing so
little interest in it.
Fully aware of the upper caste antipathy towards them, the
youths of Tsundur have been fighting hard for their rights. But, supported by
the police, the upper caste reaction has been consistently aggressive and
brutal, determined to ensure that the Dalits stay in their "proper place".
During a peaceful dharna, the police shot at Anil Kumar, a BA student who
was in the forefront of Dalit mobilisation. The role of the police in Tsundur
has been highly partisan and against all norms of the rule of law.
The Dalits of Tsundur chose to bury all nine victims of the
massacre in the heart of the village, a spot named ‘Raktkshetra’, as a
reminder to the upper castes that they would not them let go without facing a
trial. Just 50 metres from the burial spot stands a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar,
yet to be unveiled. The upper castes have been resisting the statue’s
installation in an attempt to crush the Dalit self-respect that Dr. Ambedkar
fought so hard for.
But undaunted in their struggle for justice and equality, the
Dalits of Tsundur have erected a monument in memory of Anil Kumar outside his
house. Gudurulamma, an old woman, died in Delhi when she went there to
participate in a protest demanding justice for her community.
Over 13 years after the massacre, the families of the victims of
Tsundur still await justice for those who died. They say they will not find
peace until the guilty are punished for their crime. Today, the Dalits of
Tsundur know full well that the price of truth is extremely high. They know that
the government has compensated them handsomely and even given their distant
relatives jobs in an effort to keep their mouths shut. But when I spoke to most
of the survivors, who are doing quite well for themselves, they said they would
be betraying their elders if they changed their testimony for mere pennies.
The children of 1991 have grown up. Mose, the son of a victim,
is now one of the leaders of the committee. Even today you can see the fire and
rage in his eyes as he recalls how he felt as a young lad when he went to pick
up his father’s body. He wants to see the culprits hanged for their heinous
crime.
The role of the police in Tsundur needs to be carefully
examined. It was the police who forced people to leave, to flee to other
villages, perhaps as part of a deliberate plan to force them into a well-laid
Reddy trap. So far 219 people have been named in the FIR. About 29 of the
accused are already dead while seven main culprits have yet to be arrested. In
many cases, the police have made deliberate mistakes in naming the accused; some
of the names in the FIRs are fictitious in an apparent attempt to weaken the
case.
Our police system still functions in a feudal mindset. According
to K. Satyanarayana, secretary, Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samiti, Andhra Pradesh,
the Dalits are under intense pressure from the upper caste bureaucracy and
police. In the village, the Dalits face death threats as well as boycott, while
at the bureaucratic and police level it is dilatory tactics, distortion of facts
and hiding behind technicalities. Satya and his colleagues, including the
president of the Samiti, D. Prabhakar, have been camping in the village for
days, mobilising people through cultural shows. The legendary poet and singer
Gaddar also visited the village and penned a song in memory of Tsundur.
As February approaches, Dalits wait for justice. After that they
will decide their future course of action. But one thing is certain: the Dalits
of Tsundur will not be silenced. Armed with the benefits of education and
learning, they now feel duty-bound to speak out against the indignities of
caste. It is time to awaken and to assert, they say. n