Shops are open. People move around on the roads. Several groups of men in khaki in the street corners are not to be seen anymore. Normalcy is back in the Pearl City of Thoothukudi, it seems. But the anguish and pain combined with fear still remain. Not just because of the deaths of 13 people in the police firing during a protest against the Sterlite Copper smelter plant on May 22, but because a police crackdown during midnights continues.
Rosemary (name changed), a resident of Mini Sagayapuram in Thoothukudi, makes it a point to visit the Our Lady of Snows Shrine Basilica every evening after 7pm with her two children, aged eight and 10. She stays back in the vast campus of the 16th century church till the wee hours every day. An hour before dawn, she gets back home with her children. “This has been my routine for the past one week. Not just me, many of my neighbours and residents of Thoothukudi are out on the streets. The police come knock at our doors looking for our men,” said Rosemary.
During the wee hours, said Rosemary, the police, as part of their routine street rounds, knock on the doors of the residents and inquire about the men in the house. “If our men are young, between 18 and 35 years of age, the police immediately take them away in the name of inquiry,” said Rosemary.
At Madathur, on Thursday, the police broke open a lock at Thangamari’s house and asked for her husband, a driver. A bemused Thangamari who was sleeping in her two-room house with her two children and mother-in-law had to plead with the police, saying her husband was away for work. “They opened all the almirahs and checked if he is hiding. My husband is a driver and he had gone to work the night shift,” said Thangamari.
In fact, areas of Thoothukudi like Terespuram, Annanagar, Mini Sagayapuram, Panarampatti and Palivasal street are still in the grip of fear. “We don’t know when the police would knock at our doors. They look at us like terrorists. But it is only during the midnight they come in,” said 17-year-old Paulraj at Terespuram. Most of the people at this fishing hamlet at the tail-end of the Pearl City have either fled the place or spend nights in the streets in a public place to avoid midnight arrests.
The people of Thoothukudi, where protests against Vedanta’s plans to expand its Sterlite Copper smelter turned violent on May 22, are wary of midnight searches and arrests. At Terespuram and Mini Sagayapuram, the people have been continuously raising concerns over the midnight searches by the police.
“They come in a big group. They rush into the house, breaking open the lock. There are no women police personnel accompanying the policemen. They are ruthless and they verbally abuse us as they enter,” said Rosemary.
In fact, in the past four days, women and children, at places like Annanagar, have been spending their nights sleeping on the streets fearing police action.
“We are scared to stay inside the house at midnight. We want to be together in a common place. So we are spending our nights in front of the temple or a church,” said Rosemary. Apparently, the residents of the city have already taken up the issue of police raids with Collector Sandeep Nanduri and Superintendent of Police Murali Ramba.
On the other hand, the police claimed that they had been arresting only the people who were involved in the riots on May 22. “We are arresting only those who were involved in rioting and arson on the day of the violence,” said Murali Ramba.
But according to reports, a total of 248 people have been arrested in the last few weeks. The police have registered at least 243 cases for causing damage to properties worth Rs.15.67 crore. This, according to a police report, includes 331 government-owned properties. Apart from this, the police have booked six activists from the Makkal Adhikaram organisation under the National Security Act.
“This is illegal. The women and children are still in the grip of fear. They are harassed psychologically,” said Henry Tiphange of People’s Watch.