annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Tamil Nadu
After the interrogation, Ganesan could
“breath only with great difficulty” and
reportedly fainted frequently. He had to be
admitted at the Tuticorin Government
Medical College Hospital on 2 July 2004.
The policemen also allegedly demanded
Rs 10,500 to withdraw the case against
him and an unidentified police official
tried to get the thumb impression of
Ganesan at the hospital. Following
complaints by the relatives of Ganesan,
cases were registered against three
policemen on the charge of torturing
Ganesan. 11
III. Violence against Women
There were reports of violence against
women in Tamilnadu.
The South India AIDS Action
Programme in a report released in August
2004 reported that sex workers in Tamil
Nadu face increasing “brutality” at the
hands of the police. The study, conducted
among 172 sex workers from 13 districts
revealed that nearly 70 per cent of the
respondents had been beaten with lathis
and logs of wood and kicked by
policemen. Some even reported broken
limbs and mutilation of sex organs. It
recorded 39 specific cases of harassment
documented with names and designations
of errant police personnel and submitted to
the Home Ministry. 12
The plight of the female workers in
the units of the Madras Export Processing
Zone, about 25 km from Chennai,
reportedly remains very pathetic.
Humiliation and exploitation, including
224
sexual exploitation in work place are
endemic. The employees allegedly do not
have access even to toilets without tokens,
and frequent use of them allegedly invites
the wrath of their bosses. Water supply is
allegedly stopped at 5 pm every day so that
the workers would not go to wash their
faces and apply make up. The supervisors
would want them to use the toilets only
during time allotted for them for tea and
lunch break. 13 In comparison to units
outside the zone, the “degree of harshness
is greater” in the zone with “compulsory
overtime, immediate retrenchment if a
worker refuses overtime, impossible
targets, restricted use of toilets, preference
for unmarried girls and the pervasive
practice of sexual harassment. Women
workers, the younger and unmarried ones
in particular, are allegedly verbally and
physically abused at the hands of their
male supervisors”. 14
IV. Atrocities against the Dalits
The Dalits were subjected to torture,
humiliation and other violations of their
rights.
On the night of 16 May 2004, houses
of several Dalit families were set on fire in
Kalapatti village, 15 kms from Coimbatore
in Tamil Nadu allegedly by upper caste
men of the village, three days after the
announcement of results of the Lok Sabha
elections. All household belongings were
gutted and domestic livestock like cows
and goats were allegedly burnt alive by the
attackers. The immediate reason for the
attack was believed to be the BJP’s defeat