The family of a 28-year-old woman in Dharmapuri district has been ostracised by a kangaroo court (katta panchayat) for complaining against her paternal uncle as well as her husband and their family under the Domestic Violence Act.
It came to light when M. Palaniammal lodged a complaint to District Collector R. Ananthakumar and District Protection Officer V. Parvathy attached to the Social Welfare Department on January 3.
Based on her complaint, Ms. Parvathy, summoned both parties for counselling aimed at conciliation. During the process, her husband Madhan and his family members were vehemently against the reunion of the couple citing that Palaniammal was not able to bear a child for the past eight years.
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They said that Madhan had decided to live with his first wife M. Sivakami and his son studying in Class eleven (hitherto living with Palaniammal).
Palaniammal was living in her sister's residence on the outskirts of the village along with her parents. She was thrown out of her house and was also not allowed to live with her parents in a nearby house.
It is alleged that Madhan had divorced Sivakami in the presence of the kangaroo court conducted by the village elders just two years before marrying Palaniammal at Venkatramaswamy Temple, Maniambadi, on May 24, 2002. The same was also registered.
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Refuse to reunite
As Madhan's family was against reunion and also refused to give the compensation amount accepted at the kangaroo court, the District Protection Officer Parvathy filed a case at the Judicial Magistrate Court at Pappireddipatti in Dharmapuri district in March.
In the mean time, Palaniammal's family was not allowed by the villagers to perform last rites of an elder family member who died last week. Apart from this, the family members of her husband Madhan, his younger brother and their sons were posing wild threat to the family members, Palaniammal alleged.
She lodged a complaint at Kadathur Police station on Saturday against her husband and his family members.
K.P. Senthil Raja, Regional Human Rights Coordinator, People's Watch told The Hindu on Friday that practice of ‘Ooor Gounder Manthiri' an age old system of kangaroo courts was still in vogue in Dharmapuri district. Before accepting the complaints, police personnel themselves are encouraging the litigants to solve their problems through these kangaroo courts. Complaints were not handled properly at police stations. As nothing could be solved, justice is being denied to the rural masses, he alleged.
Due to the menace of kangaroo courts, the democratically elected presidents' of the panchayats' could not function independently, he lamented.