KANNUR: Chithralekha, a Dalit autorickshaw driver from Kannur who has been waging a lonely battle against the CPM, is puzzled to hear news reports she has to pay Rs 3.5 lakh as fee to the government for providing her police protection.
Though there hasn’t been any official communication on this, she believes that the police - with the blessings of the district CPM leadership - are trying to intimidate her.
“I haven’t received any official communication from the police. It was the court that ordered to give me protection as they are convinced my complaint regarding the threat against my life was genuine. Since no official intervention has been made, why should I react to this. Everybody knows that I am not that rich to pay such a huge amount to employ police personnel for my protection,” she said.
She said ever since she had started her resistance against the CPM, she and her family were being targeted by the party and police. “They burnt my auto. I had to flee my home in Payyannur as the party had ostracised us. When the UDF Government gave me a plot to build a new house, the LDF Government cancelled that order,” she said.
But DySP Sadanandan believes there is nothing wrong if the government goes to court demanding payment for protection. “There is a clause which suggests that the person who seeks police protection should pay for that,” he said. “Recently, the management of Anjarakandy Medical College Hospital had to pay around Rs 12.5 lakh to the government in similar circumstances. They asked for protection and the government provided it for a fee.”
Filmmaker and a noted Dalit activist Rupesh Kumar said, “This is yet another form of Dalit abuse. How can you expect a person who struggles both financially and socially to pay such a huge amount? If she is that rich, she wouldn’t have to face such ordeals in her life.”