The video captured on a cell-phone opens with
a gory scene – a body lies covered in a white cloth on an overturned cot; a few
policemen could be seen standing around; loud wailing of an old woman could be
heard in the background…hearing that helpless voice of bereavement makes our
heart bleed.
Someone turns over the body from the cot on to
a blue tarpaulin sheet. The body becomes visible for a few seconds. It is
completely naked; a bunch of white worms could be seen squirming on her back,
which has turned pitch black. There is a wound on her back on the left side.
Her body is turned over again. A dark blue cloth is shoved into her month. Her
abdomen is slightly swollen. Her genitals are torn into shreds.
As the wailing gets louder, the body gets
wrapped into the tarpaulin and shifted to a white ambulance. A man could be
seen arguing with policemen who were standing there with cold faces.
“Had a Dalit boy eloped with a Vanniyar (a dominant caste in that
region) girl, won’t you have taken a stern action by now?” argued that man. The
gloominess in his voice, and the furtive silence of the policemen conveyed a
lot more messages than words could! Not just the desires of a girl who was just
17, or the unfulfilled dreams and disappointments of her parents, but the
arrogance of the dominant castes, and the brutality of the Hindu fanatics could
be seen in every frame of that video.
She is Nandini.
Nandini’s family members always call her with
a pet name “pappa”, which means an
infant girl. She is 17 years old, and is the youngest in her family. She lost
her father when she was young. She has a brother and a sister. None of the
children, including Nandini, has crossed high school education. The family is
so poor that the children after reaching their teenage have to work as
daily-wage labourers to feed themselves. Nandini’s mother Raasaakkili also
works as a daily wage labourer.
The house, which is built under government’s
“Indira Awaaz Yojana” housing scheme, has no cement flooring, and is covered
with cow dung paste. A make-shift partition divides that single-roomed house
into two. Nandini grew-up in this house, under the care of her mother. Due to
family situation, Nandini was forced to drop out of school after 8th
standard. Her mother sent Nandini for daily wage work along with Devi, another
girl of similar age in the neighborhood.
Rasakkili - Nandini’s mother
Nandini who left for work along with her
friend Devi on 29th December 2016, never returned home. Police
recovered her decomposed body from a well about two weeks later on 14th
of January 2017. This is not just a death. This is a pre-planned and
well-executed brutal murder. Why was Nandini murdered? Who committed it? How
they did it? And why?
The mutilated
body of that young girl might have been buried-away; but finding answers to the
above questions are important to prevent more Nandinis from getting
slaughtered.
Nandini did not
return home on 29th evening; but she had spoken to her niece Vennila at around
8:30 pm the same day, from an unknown mobile number. Nandini informs Vennila
that she was in love with one person named Tamilarasan belonging to a place
called Vellur near Sendurai town; she also says that she has left home with an
intention of marrying him. She further requests Vennila to take good care of
her mother Rasakkili and then disconnects the call. Vennila informs her aunt
Rasakkili about this immediately, and they try to call that number back – but
it was switched-off.
Immediately after
this, Rasakkili and her relatives approach Nandini’s friend Devi. But, Devi
says she does not know anything about Nandini’s love with Tamilarasan. The
family then decides to approach police. They rush to Irumpulikurichi police
station and try to register a complaint stating that their daughter has been
kidnapped. But the policemen refuse to take the complaint; instead they advise the
family to wait till next morning for Nandini’s return; when the family
persisted to register a complaint, the police chase them away.
Nandini’s family
members go back to the police station the next morning, and meet a police
officer named Manivannan. The officer careless and arrogantly says, “as the
girl has eloped with someone, FIR could be registered only as ‘girl missing’
and not as kidnap”; the police officer forcefully gets a statement from
Nandini’s family and registers the complaint as ‘girl missing’. Normally, a
‘person missing’ complaint is registered only when someone above 18 years of
age goes missing; if a minor person is taken away without his/her parents’
consent, it should be registered as ‘kidnap’ and not as ‘person missing’.
Nandini’s mother Rasakkili’s complaint letter to the police
In the meanwhile,
one of Nandini’s relative goes to Vellur to findout where Nandini is. On
enquiry, it was found that the only Tamilarasan living in Vellur is someone who
is mentally ill. Thus, it becomes clear that those who have kidnapped Nandini
have made her to give false information to her family with an intention to
cause confusion. On knowing this, Nandini’s family members check with Devi
again; as Devi continues to insist that she is not aware of anything, they
convene village panchayat to enquire Devi.
On seeing that the matter is getting serious,
Devi gets scared and reveals that it was Manikandan who has taken away Nandini.
Manikandan is the Hindu Munnani’s union secretary of Senthurai East. She
further says, Manikandan has been in love with Nandini for the past 6 to 7
months. Nandini’s family is alarmed when they came to know that Manikandan
belongs to Vanniyar caste, which is the dominant caste in the region. Apart
from belonging to a dominant caste, Manikandan is also a scoundrel who would
not think twice to commit heinous crimes like murder; even if he gets caught,
he has the backing of a terrorist outfit called Hindu Munnani to rescue him.
True to his belief, after the news about Nandini’s murder appeared in the
media, Hindu Munnani’s founder-leader Ramagopalan claimed that the girl had
mutilated her own genitals with a blade!
While this was happening, the District
secretary of Hindu Munnani Rajasekar approaches higher police officials to
complain about the apparent attempts that are being made to tarnish his image.
He evidently lets the cat out of the bag by submitting a petition stating
Manikandan had quit from his outfit on 29th December itself. But the
police officers, ignoring this obvious and evident fact, very sincerely accept
Rajasekar’s petition, and are refusing to summon Rajasekar for enquiry till
date.
A few of Nandini’s relatives, who are in the
lower echelons of the police force, are very much aware of the barbaric face of
the Hindu Munnani outfit. So, they warn Nandini’s family not to delay this
matter, and advise them to go to the police station again. When Nandini’s
family rushes back to the police station on 30th December, only arrogance
and indifference greets them there. Policemen chase them away again, stating
that they are on the way out to Srirangam on some bundobust duty.
Petition given to the Superintendent of Police seeking
action
Rasakkili, who already lost her husband, waits
desperately for the next two days hoping that Nandini would return soon. As
Nandini had left home only because of a love affair, her mother Rasakkili had
thin hope that she would somehow return home safely; even if not, she hoped
that Nandini would be alive and would lead a happy life somewhere. As she did
not hear anything in the next two days, she approaches police station again on
3rd of January. This time police summons Devi and Manikandan and
conduct an enquiry with them.
At the police station, Devi confirms again
that Manikandan is the one who took away Nandini with him. At the extensive
witness session at the police station, Devi revealed that Manikandan was
continuously giving ‘love torture’ to Nandini, and was stalking her constantly
along with his friends. At some point, Manikandan successfully made Nandini
fall for his bait, and she got pregnant as a result. More than 5 months into
pregnancy, Nandini pleads Manikandan to marry her as early as possible. It is
at this point in time, Manikandan took away Nandini, alleged Devi.
Even after such a detailed witness, the police
officers at Irumpulikurichi conduct only a name-sake enquiry, and let
Manikandan out on bail immediately. Even during the enquiry, Manikandan
contradicted his own statements a number of times. In the end he denied all the
allegations. Soon after coming out on bail, he absconds. On knowing this,
Krishnamurthy, one of Manikandan’s friends who bailed him out, gets frightened
and consumes poison. This is when the police started feeling the real headache.
Police initiated enquiry with the family
members and friends of Manikandan; but they were still lethargic and complacent
in handling the case. At this juncture, some comrades from democratic
organizations in Sendhurai and Ponparappi area who opposed and
called-to-account the atrocities of the Hindu communal outfit many times in the
past, come to know about Nandini’s case, the involvement of Hindu Munnani in
it, and the lethargic attitude of the police.
Some Dalit organizations like Bahujan Samaj
Party, Viduthalai Siruthaikal Katchi (VCK / Liberation Panthers) took up this
issue and started conducting poster campaigns and protests; this is when police
felt the pressure to show some real and meaningful action. On 8th of February,
a petition was sent to the District Superintendent of Police detailing the
criminal activities of Manikandan and his mentor and Hindu Munnani’s district
secretary Rajasekar.
Manikandan, on realizing that the issue is
getting serious, consumes poison on 12th of February and gets
admitted to hospital with a criminal intention to divert the public attention.
On 13th of February, police bring three of Manikandan’s companions
Manivannan, Thirumurugan and Rajadurai for enquiry. The next day, police
recover Nandini’s decomposed body from a well belonging to one of Manikandan’s
relatives in a village called Keezhamaaligai.
Manikandan, who
kidnapped Nandini on 29th of December, has taken along any evidence
with him. A police officer has personally revealed to one of the local BSP
functionaries that just a couple of days after Nandini went missing,
Manikandan’s cell phone was registered at Pennadam’s cell phone tower login;
this place is at a distance of about 30 kilometers from Keezhamaligai village.
After kidnapping
Nandini, Manikandan kept her under the control of his companions, and has
attempted to abort the fetus. He has taken Nandini to a few hospitals too for
this. When he learnt that it is not possible to abort a 6-month old fetus, he
decides to kill her. Just two to three days after kidnapping Nandini,
Manikandan and his friends tie up Nandini’s mouth with a cloth, and gang-rape
her. Had the police started the enquiry immediately on receiving the complaint
on the 29th of December, Nandini could have been saved.
After mutilating
body of Nandini who was lying unconscious, Manikandan and his companions cut
open her genitals with a blade to pull-out the fetus through her vagina with an
intention to burn it; people in that area say that they have succeeded in doing
that to the fetus.
After staging
this horror at a place called Kallukkuzhi near Kodukkur village, they burnt all
her clothes, and were carrying her naked body in a white SUV to find a suitable
place to conceal it. Finally they come to a conclusion that Keezhamaligai,
which is about 7 kilometers away from Kodukkur, would be an ideal place to
conceal the body.
This is the well from which Nandini’s decomposed body was
recovered
Thinking that the
foul smell emanating from the well might create suspicion among people living
around that area, they decided to kill a dog and throw it next to the well;
they thought the smell emanating from dog’s body would cover up that of
Nandini’s dead body. An elderly woman staying near the place says that she
remembers seeing Manikandan and his friends roaming around in a white SUV and
two-wheelers looking around for a dog. As they could not find a dog, they tie
Nandini’s body to a stone and throw it into the well.
Nandini has been
murdered with the dexterity of a professional murderous gang. Hindu Munnani
terrorists have butchered her horrendously, without even displaying an iota of
shock or sorrow. Even a lecherous stray dog would not approach a pregnant
female dog for sex. But these cold-blooded beasts have gang-raped a pregnant
girl, and killed her in a manner that would cause excruciating pain even to
those who just hear it.
From where did
they get the courage to do such a blood-curdling, heinous and ghastly crime?
What is their background? Who are behind them? Who are the local and other
leaders of this Hindu mafia? Who is that key leader of this Hindu Munnani gang
that master-minded Nandini’s murder? Why was Manikandan not arrested immediately?
Why the police turned a blind eye to the criminal activities of this criminal
gang?
More importantly, our enquiry revealed that
such ghastly acts are not new to this lecherous, barbarous and murderous Hindu
Munnani gang.
(To be continued…)
This article is translated
by APSC-IITM team. Original article is published in vinavu website(www.vinavu.com)
in Tamil.
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