The death of M. Venkatesan in the Seshachalam forests has left Kanaka Rani devastated. Venkatesan was a painter and Kanaka, his wife, is a first year B. Com student at the Government Salem Arts College.
Following her husband’s death Kanaka has decided to skip the semester exams set to begin on Wednesday. “The couple had a civil ceremony six months ago and their parents could not oppose as they were adults. He usually goes away for a couple of days as he takes up jobs in cities. She identified him by his shirt in the photo the police gave us,” says P. Manjunath, ward president of Arasanatham, to which the couple belongs.
Alamelu’s husband Dharman is languishing in Cuddapah jail for the past 16 months. She has spent so far Rs. 22,000 on a lawyer with no hopes of getting him released. Alamelu says the police picked up Dharman at Tirupati bus stop while they were returning to Arasanatham from a trip to the temple. Her children are in the tribal residential school and come home once a month as she cannot afford to feed them daily. The women were brought to the city by the fact-finding team that visited the villages of the woodcutters who were shot dead by Andhra Pradesh police on April 7.
The team included members from various organisations representing the tribal people. The National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations, which led the team, has called for a judicial commission headed by a retired judge from outside Andhra Pradesh to probe the deaths.
It has also demanded that the villagers be provided two acres of land, Rs. 30 lakh as compensation by the AP government; implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006; release of the names of arrested persons on the AP police website; and suspension and inquiry of the police officials involved in the killing.
Seeks compensation of Rs. 30 lakh
for the families of killed woodcutters
