The Hindu : Women's panel chief visits Kuppam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Women's panel chief visits Kuppam

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI July 13. The controversy over the alleged stoning to death of an AIDS-affected widow, Ponnamma, at Kuppam in Chittoor district recently appears to be deepening. A probe today at Kuppam into the incident by the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Poornima Advani, ended inconclusively. She will continue her enquiry tomorrow.

Ms. Advani, who happened to be in Hyderabad on Friday, took a serious note of the incident and decided to proceed to Kuppam for a probe on her own as she was reportedly not satisfied with the explanations offered by various agencies.

The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, concerned over the episode in his own constituency alerted all the agencies concerned to help the NCW chief conduct the probe at Kuppam.

Besides WINS (Women's Initiative), which brought the incident to light, two other NGOs -- CHANnce and CORE -- are also said to have corroborated the facts mentioned in the WINS complaint. All the three organisations reportedly submitted a joint representation to the NCW chief during the probe reportedly confirming their earlier version.

Among others who deposed before the Commission today was the DSP Kuppam who flatly rejected the "story,'' the mother of the deceased and her brother. Ms. Advani also visited the BC colony where the deceased lived and talked to the residents. She was also said to have visited even the burial ground where the victim, Ponnamma was allegedly burnt by her relatives and neighbours immediately after her lynching. While the complaint by the NGOs based on their "independent enquiries'' insists that Ponnamma was stoned to death and burnt immediately, the police, her mother and the colony mates rejected the story and insisted that though she was AIDS-infected, she died only a natural death.

Ms. Advani was said to have expressed her displeasure over the conclicting and mutually contradictory statements being given to her during the deposition by the police, the residents of the colony, her mother and brother. She said that she somehow had a feeling that nobody was speaking the truth. "So I want to stay back and try to get at the truth,'' she said indicating that her probe would continue tomorrow also.

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