NAMAKKAL: A septuagenarian woman died trying to protect her granddaughter from her ‘abusive’ stepfather, near Rasipuram in the wee hours of Saturday. Raja, the step father, attacked the old woman with acid and slit her throat before he was allegedly beaten to death by the public.
The incident has unnerved residents of the in Gurusamypalayam. Police say Lakshmi, mother of three, was in a live-in relationship with Raja, a native of Dharmapuri. Her daughters from her first marriage, Prema (24), Divya (20), and Ambika (18), were raised by their paternal grandmother Parameshwari (75).
Prema is married and lives in Salem while Divya works in Erode. Ambika, the youngest among the three, wasstaying with her grandmother, and pursuing her bachelors in science. About three months back, Lakshmi approached the police asking them to ‘rescue’ Ambika from Parameshwari’s custody.
The girl, however, refused to go live with her mother. Sources say it was because Raja had allegedly tried a few times to sexually abuse Ambika. The custody battle escalated on Friday midnight, when Raja came to Parameshwari’s house armed with a knife and a bottle of acid. He demanded that Ambika be sent with him, which Parameshwari refused.
A heated argument ensued and a crowd gathered in front of Parameshwari’s house. While the public tried to convince Raja, he threatened to attack them with acid. “Suddenly, in a fit of rage, Raja slit Parameshwari’s throat and threw acid on her. She died on the spot,” said a police official quoting an eyewitness.
Shocked, the public started attacking Raja with stones. He retaliated by flinging what was left of the acid on them, allegedly injuring 15 persons. Irked further, the mob surrounded and beat him to death.
(Names of the victim and family members changed)
Friday nightmare: Cops fired duds at accused before mob beat him dead
Ambika escaped unhurt, at least physically, from the Friday nightmare, thanks to her grandmother who died trying to save the girl. Sources say that a team of police had rushed to the spot soon after trouble escalated. However, they were unable to control the situation, which by then had spiralled out of control. Police officials finally opened fire, but they missed their target. The crowd soon grew bigger, and they beat Raja to death in front of the police. Namakkal SP Ara Arularasu rushed to the spot within hours. Parameshwari and Raja’s body were sent to Rasipuram government hospital for postmortem.
“There were several cases pending against Raja across police stations, including in Dharmapuri district,” says police superintendent Ara Arularasu. The dead man was charged with acid attack and murder. A few members of the public were also booked for pelting stones on Raja, under sections for murder and attempt to murder. Arularasu claimed the police had only fired dud rounds.
Three months ago, Lakshmi approached the Rasipuram police seeking to ‘rescue’ her daughter Ambika from the custody of Parameshwari. "The girl, however, refused to go with her mother. We sent them back asking them not to disturb the girl and let her be. Later, Rajaseems to have gone to the medical shop where Ambika was working part-time, and threatened her. However, the girl did not approach the police with any complaints," said the SP. "."
Debate over murder
M Srinivasan, the head of the department of criminology said that the police cannot excuse the people who engage in mob violence as it will send the wrong message to public. "You cannot also call this as an act of self-defense, as the police were present when the mob got violent," he said.
"This is a clear case of mob justice and not lynching. Lynching is when the public who are upset with criminal activities or fed up with rumours about a community target them and murder without handing them to the authorities. Here there has been a provocation where the deceased has thrown acid and attacked the public," he said.
“In response to the threat the mob had murdered him. But what is to be seen is people are completely upset with law enforcement. Instead of handing him over to the police, the mob, which did not trust the justice system, took things into their hands,” says Suresh of PUCL. Rasipuram lawyer Nalvinai Vishwaraj says the police must not file a case on the public, as they had killed Raja as an act of self-defense. In many cases like this, victims have been acquitted by the court under IPC 100 (When the right of private defence of the body extends to causing death).
Madras University Professor Latha Subramani opines that such instances spring out of the lack of stringent punishment for accused. “It’s crucial that justice is delivered. The problem in our country is that many cases are pending in courts and police stations due to lack of manpower.”
‘Don’t excuse mob violence’
M Srinivasan, the head of the department of criminology said that the police cannot excuse the people who engage in mob violence as it will send the wrong message to public