Lockdown Caste Atrocities – Case 11

R hails from Keelathiruppalakkudi village near Mannargudi in Thiruvarur district, which is located in this eastern region. R has been working as an agricultural laborer on the lands of Ilavarsan belonging to the dominant caste and lives in the same village. R always goes to work at 6.30 in the morning and returns home at 6.30 in the evening. He works 12 hours a day. His daily wage is Rs.400, which is Rs 35 per hour.

On  24 May  R came to work at 6.30 am as usual. He had a severe headache on the day so he returned home at 1.30 pm. After taking medicine for the headache, he fell asleep. At around 7.30 that evening he went to the nearby village restaurant to buy food for his children.

Ilavarasan, the owner of the land was present there along with two of his friends. Ilavarsan, who was furious seeing R, abused him for leaving work early, called him a “laborer dog”. He also insulted him using caste slurs. R politely told him that he

does not even need the wage but he wants to be treated with respect to which Ilavarasan and his gang of men severely beat him up with coconut husks and stones on various parts of the body, including the ears, head, and face and tortured him. R, who was gravely injured, told then that he would lodge a complaint with the police. So they dragged him to a nearby waterless dry well which was about 30 feet deep. Pushed him into it and left him there.

The next day on 25.05.2020 at 8.00 am the people rescued R and took him to the hospital where R succumbed to injuries at 12.30 pm. The three criminals were arrested and remanded. This incident was not reported anywhere in the media. There is a laid-back, casual attitude of the fellow Indians towards Dalit murders as if it’s unimportant which speaks volumes of whose lives matter.

Artist: Yogesh Barve

#LockdownCasteAtrocities is a campaign by DHRDNet to highlight the cases of atrocity against Dalits that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.