தருமபுரி: முற்போக்கு வேடதாரிகளே! இதையும் கொஞ்சம் படிச்சுப்பாருங்க: மூன்று லட்சம் கேட்டதே கலவரத்துக்கு காரணமா?

தருமபுரி கலவரம் தொடர்பான கட்டுக்கதைகள் எல்லாமும் வன்னியர்கள் சாதிவெறியர்கள், மனிதத் தன்மையற்ற மிருகங்கள் என்று கூறிவரும் நிலையில் - இன்றைய 'டெக்கன் க்ரோனிகல்' ஆங்கில நாளிதழ் (12.07.2013), ஒரு விரிவான செய்திக் கட்டுரையை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது: DC Special: Here, love gets `fixed’

'வன்னியர்களும் தாழ்த்தப்பட்டவர்களும் இணக்கமாகத்தான் பழகிவந்தனர். அங்கு இதற்கு முன்பு எத்தனையோ கலப்பு திருமணங்கள் நடந்தபோதெல்லாம், அவை இரண்டு குடும்பங்களுக்கு இடையேயான பிரச்சனையாகத்தான் பார்க்கப்பட்டது.

திவ்யா இளவரசனுடன் சென்று சுமார் ஒரு மாத காலம் வரையிலும், உள்ளூர் மக்கள் அதுகுறித்து பெரிதாக எடுத்துக் கொள்ளவில்லை. இடையில் கட்டப்பஞ்சாயத்துக்காரர்களும், பணம் பறிக்கும் போலீசும் சேர்ந்து திவியாவின் அப்பாவிடம் பணம் பறிக்க முயன்றதும், அதன் தொடர்ச்சியாக அவர் அவமானப்படுத்தப்பட்டதும் தான் நாகராஜ் தற்கொலைக்கும் கலவரத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்று கூறுகிறது.'

- முற்போக்கு வேடதாரிக் கூட்டம் இதை அப்படியே ஒத்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்று நாம் எதிர்பார்க்கவில்லை. ஆனால், கொஞ்சமாவது மனசாட்சியுள்ள ஜென்மங்களாக இருந்தால், இந்த கட்டுரையில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ள விடயங்கள் உண்மைதானா என்று செல்லங்கொட்டாய் பகுதிக்கு சென்று விசாரித்து பார்க்கட்டும்!

Here, love gets `fixed’: ‘Pay Rs 3L, get your daughter back’

Dharmapuri: To get an answer to all these questions, one has to first find out if the residents of Nayakankottai and Sellankottai are so opposed to inter-caste marriages and the extent to which they would go to prevent it.

Selvaraj, 48, from Anna Nagar near Natham Colony, is a casual labourer working at construction sites in far-off cities. He says Dalits marrying Vanniyars is not a new trend at all.

"Even in our colony, of just 55 families, one family is a Vanniyar-Dalit couple. They are happy and have now gone to the GH to lend support to Ilavarasan's parents," he claims.

Not just in Anna Nagar, at least six inter-caste couples live in Natham Colony and a few others in Kondampatti, the three Dalit colonies that were razed by an angry Vanniyar mob. If it has never been a problem, what is unique in the Divya-Ilavarasan marriage?

“This region has changed over the past few years. This kind of problem was not prevalent here when the naxals were around, this is a new trend," he says.

Dalit residents of all colonies in and around believe that the mob violence and razing of their homes is just not a fallout of the suicide of Nagarajan.

"To think that the suicide of Divya's father led to attacks is absurd," says Vedi, a resident of Kondampatti. He points out that the attackers hurled hundreds of petrol bombs.

"They had also blocked the roads on either side using chopped trees. All this could not have been be organised in a short span of time," he argues. "This is a planned attack."

Located around 2 km from Natham Colony, and accessible only through a dirt-filled road between groundnut fields, is Sellankottai where Divya lived with her parents Nagarajan and Thenmozhi in a modest home away from the main road.

Her house has remained locked since the day she returned to her mother after she was told that her mother was ill and needed her help. At least a dozen police officials guarded their home on Friday when a furore was breaking out over Ilavarasan's death, just a few kilometres at the Dharmapuri GH.

Elsewhere in Sellankottai, women gather around in small groups and whisper about the plight of their lives. Most men have gone for work in other districts and distant cities as agriculture has not been as supportive.

Govindasamy (23), who had just completed college and returned home to stay with his parents, is the only male present in the village on Friday afternoon. Neatly clad in a sports T-shirt and shorts, he hardly looks like a man who would go on the rampage against a village because a boy fell in love with a girl.

"None of the villagers here is opposed to love marriages," says Govindasamy. "We have also grown up watching young men fall in love with women like the rest of the country. We would not oppose a love marriage if it was genuine," he says.

The womenfolk soon gather around Govindasamy and tell him not to talk to the scribes. "Media and government have been extremely unfair to us. After the violence, 55 men from the village were jailed. At least 17 college students were put in jail and as a result of this, they had to discontinue their studies," says Lakshmi (name changed), a resident of Sellankottai.

The women claim that while there was a lot of coverage for sufferings of Dalit colonies, not even the collector or local MLA bothered to hear their version of the story.

"Let them try to answer why Nagarajan committed suicide more than a month after his daughter eloped with a Dalit youth. If he was so struck by shame, he would have committed suicide immediately, not a month later," says Lakshmi.

Villagers at Sellankottai claim that Nagarajan who had to walk past Natham Colony every day to his cooperative society bank on the Dharmapuri-Thirup­attur main road was harassed and verbally abused daily.

"It is a tactic used by some political party leaders to intimidate  parents of girls who elope with ‘other’ men. When the humiliation reaches unbearable limits, a mediator would enter the scene and negotiate an amount for returning the girl back to the family and restore the family honour," says another woman at Sellankottai who refuses to be identified.

She claims that in this particular case, the mediator was sub-inspector Perumal who used his official machinery to force Nagarajan to agree to Rs 3 lakh to get his daughter back.
"Only after Nagarajan died, senior police officials found out about Perumal's role and they immediately suspended him," she says.

Residents of Sellankottai point out that the arson and related activity were not triggered by the isolated death of Nagarajan or eloping of Divya.

"For years, this has been the practice. Whenever an inter-caste pair are in love, local politicians from the same community intimidate the parents of the girl against accepting the groom. They threaten to ostracise the family if they agree to the marriage. Once the girl's father disapproves, the rival caste-based party leaders arrange for the elopement and marriage of the love birds. After the two marry, it is a sheer game of numbers where a deal is struck and the girl returns to her family," says Lakshmi (name changed).

In the Divya-Ilavarasan case, reliable sources point out that a deal was struck for Rs 3 lakh at a hotel in Dharmapuri town which was notorious for such kangaroo courts. “Despite Nagarajan agreeing to pay the amount, he was harassed by  police and rival community leaders which could have led to his suicide,” a police source said.

Senior police officials in the region point out such kangaroo courts have been prevalent in Dharmapuri and the surrounding areas for a long time and many have made a killing out of it.

A police officer said that usually the money demanded is anywhere between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh. "Unfortunately, we cannot invoke the law to prevent such activities as there are not enough provisions in the rule books. In the absence of such a mechanism, it is extremely difficult to curb the menace," the officer explained.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130712/news-current-affairs/article/dc-special-here-love-gets-fixed%E2%80%99?page=show