Family of seven left homeless after house pulled down in Kodagu, seeks justice

"The land on 215/8 is still owned by the Waring family and we never asked Kunji’s family to vacate the place,” said Avril, one of the members of the family who is now settled in Chennai
Scenes from the eviction process conducted on August 20 (Photo | Special arrangement)
Scenes from the eviction process conducted on August 20 (Photo | Special arrangement)

MADIKERI: A poor family of seven members belonging to the Yerava tribe was forcibly removed from their house at Kannambadi in Devarapura village of South Kodagu by their neighbour using the court eviction order of another property. What's more shocking is that the wrongful eviction was held under the supervision of revenue and police officials.

Panjiri Yeravara Kunji, the 55-year-old head of the unfortunate family and a farm labourer, told this reporter that her family was living in the asbestos sheet house ever since she was a child and the land belonged to an Anglo-Indian family which now lives in Chennai. Kunji's grandfather used to work for the Anglo-Indian family.

"Subbaiah who lived in the neighbouring plot used to pressurise us to vacate the land. After his death, the exploitation doubled up and his daughter Sushma even hurled abuses against our community. On August 20, Sushma with the help of police and revenue officials threw us out and pulled down our house,” said Rani, granddaughter of Kunji.

"We cannot read English. We were shown a court notice and we were forced out of our house," she said. Sources said Kunji's family was inhumanely thrown out of her house without even conducting a survey to check if the land on which her house stood and that of the court order were the same. When The New Indian Express contacted Sushma, she refused to share the court orders and added that she would communicate through her lawyer. However The New Indian Express managed to get a copy of the court order only to find that the eviction was ordered for 218/8 survey number and not 215/8 on which Kunji's house stood.

Avril, a member of the Anglo-Indian family, said: “Kunji's grandfather used to work in our estate and her family was gifted 215/8 survey number land from my family. The land on 215/8 is still owned by the Waring family and we never asked Kunji's family to vacate the place." She also confirmed that the family has not received any court notice for the eviction of survey number 215/8 where Kunji's hut was located.

Kunji's family approached the jurisdictional Gonikoppal police to file a complaint about the illegal eviction process. While the police received the complaint, an FIR in this regard was not filed. Following this, the family met with SP Kshama Mishra and has filed a complaint against Sushma Subbaiah. Kunji, in the complaint, stated that Sushma had hurled abuses against the ST community and  also threatened to shoot them if they are found around her property in Devarapura. Kshama Mishra has received a complaint in this regard and an investigation will be held into the matter.

Meanwhile, the tahsildar in charge of Ponnampet Yoganand was alerted by The New Indian Express about the issue. “A re-survey will be conducted to confirm if the family was evicted wrongfully. I am heading to the spot to conduct this survey,” he said. SP Kshama Mishra was, however, not available to comment on the issue despite several calls.

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