When Chinnaponnu and her 13-year-old daughter Rajalakshmi were stringing flowers in their house, the accused Dinesh Kumar stormed into their house with a sickle. He pulled Chinnaponnu’s daughter’s hair tightly and ferociously shouted and tried to hack her daughter’s head off, saying: ”I will murder your daughter and I will not leave her alive, you Parayar prostitute.“ The mother caught hold of the accused’s leg and repeatedly pleaded him not to kill her daughter, but he pushed her down so hard that she fell unconscious, abusing her by using her caste name, calling her a Parayar prostitute. The accused first hit Rajalakshmi’s back head with the sickle. He then dragged her out the house and chopped her head off using the sickle .Then he took the deceased‘s chopped headed to his house and flung it on the road side of his house.
After the murder, he left towards his own house with the chopped off head, leaving the headless body by the deceased’s house. Chinnaponnu could hear Dinesh Kumar’s wife and brother shouting at him, asking why he brought the chopped off head to their home. They said he should throw it out on the road instead, which he did. Then the accused, his wife and brother three of them then got into a two wheeler and went straight to the police station. The murder took place on 22.10.2018 around 7.30pm. The chopped off head of the deceased was then left lying on the roadside for more than two hours. The whole Dalit community came to know the matter and surrounded the body of the deceased and the villagers found to be in tensed atmosphere. Around 9.30 pm the police came to the spot. They brought the head and headless body of Rajalakshmi to the government hospital.
Evidence’s fact-finding team came to the spot three days after the incident, on 25.10.2018. The deceased’s mother held the hand of one of the members of our team and wept inconsolably. She said that she brought up her adoring daughter so well, but now he had killed her. The team had no words to console the distraught mother. The family was inconsolable and no energy and strengthen even to show their grief.
The deceased’s family expressed their grief over the absent support and consolation perhaps from activists and civil society. The family said with heavy hearts, that when Chennai college girl Ms.Swathi and Delhi college girl Ms.Nirbaya were murdered, there were huge protests by varied groups fighting for justice. But not one of them had shown their support for this murdered teenage girl. The team could not face the deceased’s family as they all felt very guilty.
Fact findings
The deceased’s father Mr.Samivel and mother Ms.Chinnaponnu belongs to a Dalit community and has been living with two daughters, Arul Jothi and Rajalakshmi (deceased), and one son, Sargurunathan. The deceased’s father is a scavenger in the locality. His main work is to bury the dead bodies after funeral rites.
The deceased’s family lives in Thalaivaipatti Therkku Kaadu village near Attur in Salem district. The family’s youngest daughter Rajalakshmi was studying in the 8th standard. The accused Dinesh Kumar and his wife Saratha had built a house and were residing near the deceased’s family. The accused has two acres of land and a big house.
The days before the murder, the accused and his wife abused the deceased and her family members with obscene words. Kumar had been sexually harassing Rajalakshmi, making sexual advancements towards her. The deceased went and told her parents about the sexual pestering made by Kumar. The parents however, did not reveal this matter, fearing it would bring shame on the family. They did, however, decide to cut the relationship with the accused and his family. Somehow, the word spread in the village and the villagers came to know about the accuser’s actions. We believe this may be one of the reasons behind the murder. The accused blamed the deceased for spreading the word about his actions and decided to take revenge on her.
In our fact-finding we found there might be another reason, or contributing fact, to the murder. Apparently, the deceased had come to know about a family secret about the accused and his wife according to the deceased mother. Therefore, it is possible that Kumar killed the deceased to prevent the secret from coming out and spoiling his family name.
That Dinesh Kumar was handed over to the police by his wife and brother was found to be a false statement. The accused had already gone and surrendered before Aathur/Attur police and his wife and brother had only accompanied him. The accused’s brother Sarathkumar was going to the police station, the accused’s brother was riding a motor bike, and the accused and his wife sat behind him on the pillion. While the accused was on his way to the police station, he passed the deceased’s family and made threats against them. He said that he would get bailed out of jail soon and then take revenge on them. He also added that while he is at the station, nobody should disturb his house and cattle.
In the affidavit to the police, the accused’s wife said that Kumar had been mentally disturbed for some time and that he had even attempted to kill his own son, who he was usually very fond of. He could, for example, not even tolerate when somebody else tried to pick the boy up. However, a physical and mental health examination found that the accused was mentally healthy. Also, the police said that he acted like a mentally sound person during the investigation.
The fact finding has shown that in this murder case, the accused’s wife and brother should also be subjected to investigation. It is a solid suspicion that they both knew what Kumar was going to do but are posing themselves as innocent in order to protect the accused.
The accused went to the Rajalakshmi’s house, abused her and her mother verbally and called them by their caste name, and he also threathend them, telling them not to touch his house, lands and cows whilehe was away. This all sounds like a person who is very much aware of his actions.
Moreover, the accused’s wife told the police that her husband was possessed by a deity, a Hindu god called Muni. She is claiming that the deity is responsible for the murder act and not the accused.
The accused’s wife was also saying that she herself is a Dalit, claiming that her husband couldn’t murder a Dalit because of this fact. “How could the accused commit the act under caste color?” she asked. The statement is false. The accused’s wife belongs to one of the most backward castes, but she does not belong to SC as she claims.
The accused’s wife is trying to portray the incident in as an act committed because of her husband’s mental illness. We believe she is doing this in order to protect her husband. The different ways in which she is trying to portray the murder leads to a greater suspicion of her involvement in all of this. It also makes us wonder whether someone else is tutoring her in all these statements.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this case is the terrible police action. The police, who are deployed to provide protection, are taking care of the accused’s 8 cows, feeding them with grass and water in his absence. The same care has not been shown towards the deceased’s family. As a matter of fact, when the family confronted the police about this behavior, they got annoyed with them.
Presently, the “Me too”-campaign is going on very progressively, giving celebrities and influential people a platform to talk about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault. The media covers this issue well and the state machineries are being forced to take measures on this issue. At the same time, when a teenage girl revealed her experience of sexual harassment, the innocent child was beheaded.
When sexual harassments and assaults take place in slums by caste fanatics, people don’t raise their voices to get justice. Not even the media comes forward to expose the incidents, and state officials are insensitive to these types of cases.
