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Stop torturing tribals: Arundhati

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE FEB. 25. The social activist and Booker Prize winner, Arundhati Roy, today called on the tribal leader, C. K. Janu who is under judicial remand in the district jail here.

The two were together for nearly an hour, discussing the tragic happenings in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Muthanga on February 19 and the future of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha and its agitation.

The celebrated author was visibly shaken by what she had heard from the tribal leader during their meeting in the jail. Mobbed by journalists and TV cameramen outside the prison, Arundhati Roy initially tried to be evasive, saying she had not come to Kozhikode to make a press statement.

But, as journalists pressed for a statement on her meeting with Janu, she made an impassioned appeal to the Government to take effective steps to end the sufferings of the tribal people.

She said, "I appeal to the Government to stop these acts of human rights violations against tribals. And also to stop ostracising tribal people.''

Janu had also told her that the struggle launched by the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha would be continued in spite of the setback it suffered in Muthanga, Ms. Roy said.

Asked if she had any plans to announce financial assistance to the tribals who were victims of the police action, she remarked she would like to see what had happened in Muthanga first.

Ms. Roy had stopped over at the district jail to meet Janu while she was on her way to Muthanga.

Not many knew about Arundhati Roy's visit to Kozhikode. Accompanying her to Muthanga was the Dalit activist and leader of the Dalit Sahithya Akademi, V. Prabhakaran. The Dalit Akademi was the lone organisation in the State to host a reception to Arundhati Roy after she won the coveted Booker Prize.

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