Fact Finding Report On Mudhigonda Police Firing

Introduction :

1. Title/Gist of Atrocity: 7 killed in police firing.

2. Type of Atrocity: Unruly and Intentional firing by Police.

3. Date of Incident/Time: On 28th July’07 between 12.30 pm and
1.30 pm.

4. Date of Fact Finding: 29th July’07.

5. Members of Fact Finding Team:
1. Bojja Tarakam President-RPI & Senior High Court Advocate.
2. B.Venkat General Secretary-Vyavasaya Karmika Sangh.
3. Korivi Vinay Kumar Convener-APNCDHR & President-DBF.
4. Jhansi Geddam Co-convener-NCDHR & Convener-DSS.
5. Daniel Vijay Prakash Gonthupuli Organizing Secretary-DBSU.
6. V.Venkateswarulu State Secretary-Vyavasaya Karmika Sangh.
7. Vimala HRF.
8. Varun Kumar Editor-Samathara.

6. Mandate of Fact Finding:
a. Has the police fired at the mass involved in land struggle ?

b. If so what are the reasons for firing and who have fired ?

c. Action taken by the state actors ?

7. Brief Summary of the Incident:

Indefinite hunger strike was going on at Mudhigonda Mandal headquarters in Khammam district since 24th July’07 demanding agricultural lands. A state wide bandh(protest) was called on 28th July’07 protesting against the attitude of the state government on the ongoing state wide agitation demanding house sites and agricultural land. People from the surrounding villages have started coming in since morning (28th ) to Mudhigonda to participate in the bandh in support of indefinite hunger strike. Mudhigonda is 13 kms away form the district head quarters.

On 28th July ’07 a meeting was organized at the camp by stopping the vehicles on the road and the CI & SI of Police have demanded the organizers to stop the meeting. The organizers informed that the bandh is going on through out the state and they shall continue until 4 pm in the evening. Around 12.30 pm the Addl Supdt Of Police entered into the camp and pulled off the mike. When the local leaders objected this, Addl Supdt Of Police reacted strongly deployed his men., pulled out Bandi Ramesh and beat him black and blue with the lathis and the bonnets of the guns. When the 75 yrs old Rayala Venkateswarulu the local leader questioned it, the police beat him up and his grandson who came for his rescue. The police lathicharged the activists who came for the rescue of their leaders. The police pelted stones on the activists who were returning back to the camp. Some threw back the same stones on the police. In retaliation Ramesh Babu Addl Supdt Of Police opened fire from his revolver, followed by Surender Reddy CI, Tirupathi Reddy Rural SI, Venkat Reddy Mudhigonda SI and some police men in civil dresses also opened fire without any caution and continued until the bullets were over. It is said approximately more than 200 rounds have been fired. Some have run to the camp, expecting that the camp could be safe for them, but 2 have died on the spot as the police even fired on the camp. Totally 6 were killed, 3 are fighting against death and 16 others are seriously injured in the police firing.

Findings :

1. Spots Possessing Bullet Marks :

- Ambedkar statue.
- Shutters of the closed shops.
- Walls of the houses.
- Tree trunks.
- Telephone Polls.
- STD Booth.
- Blood stains could be seen clearly.

2. The police have not taken any precautionary measures before the
firing, but have directly opened firing at the mob with most
powerful guns like AK 47,etc. They left away only when the
bullets were over.

3. The local people only moved the 6 dead bodies and 17 injured
persons to the Government Hospital at Khammam.

4. Persons Killed :

1. Kathula Pedda Lakshmi aged 65yrs of Venkatapuram village.
2. Usikala Gopulu aged 60yrs of Venkatapuram village.
3. Banka Gopaiah aged 40 yrs of Mudhigonda village.
4. Pasupulati Kutumba Rao aged 30yrs of Chirumarri village.
5. Chittoor Babu Rao aged 40yrs of Medepalli village.
6. Yalagundula Veeraiah 50yrs of Mudhigonda village.
7. Jangam Bala (died on 30th )
8. 16 others injured are in the hospital.

5. The police firing was triggered at the following :

- The people hiding themselves in cool drink shop.
- Road side Fruit Vendors.
- Women hiding herself in STD booth.
- Rickshaw pullers.
- Lorry drivers.
- People moving on the road.
- People in the hunger strike camp.

6. Though 24 hrs have passed by demanding for justice by keeping
the dead bodies infront of the collectorate, neither the
authorities nor the ministers have not visited either the place
of the incident nor the dead bodies or even the family members
of the deceased.

Demands :

1. A case U/s 302 of IPC should be registered against the police
who have killed 6 persons and they should be arrested
immediately. Likewise a case under SC/ST(POA)Act should be
registered against the police as 4 among the deceased belong to
Scheduled castes.

2. The identified land of 3.50 acres should be distributed as house
sites to the local poor.

3. The 530 acres under Kattakura tank, Yadavalli small tank and
Yadavalli big tank be distributed to the poor.

4. The cases registered against the people agitating for 116 acres
of the above mentioned which is in the hands of the ineligible
landlords should be waived off and the land be taken over.

5. The cases registered against 18 persons demanding house sites be
waived off.

6. An exgratia of Rs 10 lakhs to the deceased, Rs 1 lakhs to the
injured, 5 acres of land, permanent house and a job to person
from the family be given immediately.

Judgment on Massacre Of Dalits At Tsundur

Dalits were massacred at Tsundur in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on 6th August 1991 by the so called dominant caste landlords belonging to Reddy and Telga castes. All the accused were from the near by villages Tsundur, Munnangivaripallem, Modhukur and Valiveru. The blood flew like lava from the dalit locality. 8 dalits were mercilessly murdered and their bodies were brought out from Thungbabhra Canal and nearby fields packed in the gunny bags. With the massacre of the dalits the dalit movement rose like a tidal wave from Tsundur demanding arrest of the accused and protection & rehabilitation to the survivors. Indefinite hunger strike was going on demanding justice and action against the police who were also involved in massacre. When the police started moving the dalits on hunger strike, there was a stiff resistance. During this altercation Anil Kumar was shot dead by the police assuming that he was Korivi Vinay Kumar (President-DBF at present). Latter a case was registered against Subba Rao, Korivi Vinay Kumar and others.

The rescue camp started at Mangalmandir in Guntur and reached Ambedkar Bhavan in New Delhi. Delhi was moved with the slogan “ Not Welfare but Self Dignity”. At last on 3rd October’04 the Prime Minister heard the survivors. Dalits achievement was Special Court to conduct Trial in the same place where the massacre took place apart from rehabilitation to the survivors.

It is history and for the first time in the country and can also be said as the achievement of the dalit movement that a special court was established under SC/ST(POA)Act on 01/12/04 to conduct the trial separately at the place of the incident and judgement from the same place.

The Public Prosecutors for the case are B.Chandra Sekhar and G.Siva Nageswara Rao. At one stage the accused objected B.Chandra Sekhar as he is a human rights leader, but since the victims have requested he was retained back as the public prosecutor.

Many times the accused approached the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court saying as the victims are Christians, therefore SC/ST(POA)Act of 1989 doesn’t applies, likewise as they are afraid of the dalits, the trial may be taken up at some other place instead of Tsundur, but all in vain.

The chargesheet was filed showing 219 as accused. Except for 2 all the other belong to the so called dominant caste such as Reddy and Telga castes. In the process 38 accused have passed away and finally 179 were prosecuted.

Totally 130 witnesses were taken into consideration, in the process 20 have passed away and ultimately 70 witnesses were examined.

The final argument form the Public Prosecutor was that death penalty should as in some of the judgments of Supreme Court. The defence lawyer argued that lot has been already done to the dalits, such as Rakthakshetram where all the bodies were buried amidst the village, which is no where in the country and this has been done as the dalits have an upper hand, likewise a lot has been spent for the development of the dalits by the government, further the population of dalits is more than the Reddy community and hence they are not in minority.

Judgment Pronounced on 31st July’07 as follows:

1. 21 have been given life imprisonment U/s 302.

2. 35 have been given imprisonment for 1 year and a fine of
Rs.2000/- each U/s 148.

3. 61 have been acquitted.


Response of the Public Prosecutor on the Judgment:

Ø The judgment was given based on the IPC and nowhere SC/ST (POA) Act of 1989 was taken in to consideration.

Ø The court nowhere treated the case as the rarest of the rare cases and many have been acquitted.

Ø Therefore the public prosecutor would like to approach the Government on the same lines.

Ms.Jhansi Geddam the Convenor-DSS being an advocate was present in the court during the Day of Judgment with special permission, apart from attending to the trials.

We thank one and all for the immense support and solidarity expressed and are proud to say that this day shall be an eventful day which has turned a new leaf in the saga of dalit struggles for self respect.

EFFECT OF FLOODS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

In Anndhra Pradesh 11 districts are affected by floods. Among them five districts are worstly affected. They are Kurnool, Mahaboob Nagar , Guntur, Prakasam, kadapa. Total state wide 41 people were died.

Floods affected 30,000 Acres of cultivated land in Andhra Pradesh. Particularly in Kurnool district 27,000 hectares land has affected. Presently 26 urban colonies in kurnool town still under flood water .At Nandyal division Rs.5.5 Crore worth crop has been collapsed. Dalita wada of nandyal town totally damaged. Nearly six thousand people of daliths are shelterless. The folk of prakasam district are also facing the same problem.
In Guntur district nearly 887 hectares of cotton crop, 220 hectares of groundnut crop is drowned, another 1310 fertile fields are covered with sand.
State wide heavy rains damaged 942 irrigation sources, i.e. rivers, canals, tanks, ponds, check dams. Only at Nandyal division 100 tanks were breached. In Prakasam districts also most of the irrigation sources breached, which caused a lot of loss to commercial crops.

Electricity is also affected by floods. Officially Government has announced that 1453 connections were de-connected due to heavy rains. Particularly at Mahboob Nagar district Vanaparthi area roughly 40 tribal villages are in dark from past 4 nights.

Totally in Andhra Pradesh a loss of 47,059 livestock has taken place. Particularly at Guntur district 170 domestic and milching animals were dead which worth nearly Rs. 8.5 lakhs. It is in severe range in Kurnool and Mahaboob Nagar. It is necessary for us to take immediate precautions to save the remaining livestock because it is the main income source of poor like Dalits and Tribes.

· Weavers are also affected. Loom-pits are filled with flood water. Due to this rain the thread became unable to weave.
· At Kurnool town 2000 tanning families are affected by these floods. nearly 20,000 leathers which are ready for sale have affected by fungus due to rains.
· The rain water has wetted 2215 tons of cattle feed and it is dibbled. And most of the cattle sheds are also heavily damaged. Means these many poor people lost their livelihood.


Due to these heavy rains Andhra Pradesh state wide 1,87,201 houses are affected. Among them majority of houses belong to Dalit and Tribal families.
· In this 1,87,201 houses ,12,686 houses have washed out totally . this caused the tribe to scatter to different places.
· 1,56,909 houses are collapsed. They are not at all useful to reside, means these many families became houseless.
· 15,606 houses are partially damaged, means these houses are main with half covered roofs and walls. Means compulsory they should rebuild. From past 5 days 1,87,201 families are suffering from hunger.
· Particularly Gadwal division of Mahboob Nagar district 880 families became houseless and foodless. Most of these are poor Dalits.In this division 140 houses were washed out, 429 were collapsed.
· In this situation the first and foremost sufferers are children. Students in social welfare hostels of 5 districts have attacked by viral diseases. At least these children have parents who take care of them. But it is very horrible situation of 5,000 RBC students of Kurnool district, who have joined in this hostels recently. All these were street children.

ESTIMATION OF FLOOD REVIVE:

· In this connection to revive the loss of state an amount of Rs.492.25 is necessary to fulfill the damages. From these 205.65 crores are nessary to spend on restoring the roads for transportation.
· there is a necessity of Rs.61.41crores for irrigation sector like reconstruction of banks of ponds, cannals and tanks to stop the rain water flow into villages.
· To conduct health camps, to engage the staff and to take some primary, precautionary measures Rs.8.45crores is necessary.
· To restore and assist the fisherman community (for nets& boats etc) Rs.1.30crores are necessary as estimated by the Government.




· There is a necessity of Rs.4.69crores to rebuild the sheds of cattle and to restore the other livestock.
· At Panchyatraj Rs.108.77 crores are necessary to restore roads and others transport related in full structure to give a permanent solution.
· At municipal areas Rs.74.69 crores are necessary to clean and rebuild the sanitation sources.
· At rural areas most of the school compound walls and school buildings are collapsed. To revive this 13.07crores are necessary.
And to compensate the damages of agriculture and horticulture lands the Government estimated Rs2.71crores. Government is planning to provide subsidized seeds and fertilizers and pesticides.


All the above revive estimations done by Government is only up to the areas where People can reach in this flood situation. But there are more remote areas where Government hasn’t reached and hasn’t estimated. At such remote areas mostly Dalits and Tribes are living. Our Dalit Bahujan Front activists started to serve and help the people at such remote areas. And they are estimating the damages, losses caused by floods. But it is taking time to them to pass on the information due to continuous floods. This is for your kind information.

EFFECT OF FLOOD IN PRAKASAM DISTICT TOO,


Dear Madam/Sir,
As earlier we informed you that total Andhra Pradesh is worstly affected by
floods, still it is continuing the damage. Last night we got the information by
our DBF activists, that most of Prakasam District has been damaged due to
heavy rains.8 mandals are damaged fully and 34 are partially.

Numbers of the irrigation tank bunds in this district are damaged and
that water has flown into cultivated lands and villages. This caused the high
loss in crops like sesame crops, green gram crops, which are

totally damaged. The roads are also damaged and water is over flowing on
them which effected transportation. Nearly 1234 Houses are fully damaged
and nearly 400 houses are partially damaged in this district. The rain water
has sunk most of the colonies. Still water is standing over at colony houses,
which is causing inability to cook food and reside.

Only at Ongole town 13 urban colonies and 70 to 80 slums are still under water. They have to wade waist-deep water. This is leading to spreading of insects, mosquitoes and flies, which are causing epidemic diseases. This is for your kind information.

Korivi Vinay Kumar
Administrative Office
Dalit Bahujan Front
H.No.1-3-183/40/68/c-7,
First floor,Bank colony,
opp. To MCH play ground,
Gandhi Nagar,
Hyderabad-80.
Phone/Fax: 040-27546996
Email: korivi_vinay @yahoo.com
Korivivinay @gmail.com

Due to heavy rains hits the Many dalit,tribals daytoday life in Guntur district of Andhrapradesh. perticularly Guntur,Narsaraopet,Repalle revenue divisions worstly effected. Nearly 30 mandals were badly damaged by rains. many of dalits and fishermen were homeless.Official sources declares 617 houses were washed out of sudden floods. All are belongs to dalit community,meanwhile 1378 houses are fully, and 195 were partly damaged. After four days most of dalits and tribes particularly yanadis still under flood water.
There are 2472 houses were still under water sources conformed. Crops like cotton nearly 887 hectors,Groundnut 220 hectors were droned,another 1310 fertile feilds were covered with sand. officials estimated the agriculture loss nearly Rs.208.17 lakhs, Horticulture loss was estimated nearly Rs.1.45 lakhs. most of Banana,boppai,citras plants were damaged badly,yeilds were worstly hitted.perticularly 945 hectors of Flower gardens in 30 mandals were totally washed out due to heavy flood flow.It estimated heavy loss to marginal formers belongs to dalits.
Coastal area of repalle division most were Fisher men and yanadis were badly effected this situation.This is for your kind information.

korivi vinaya kumar
Dalit bahujan front

DBF is a socio Political movement in Andhra Pradesh,formed with gross root Dalit Activist, civil society organization and other like minded professionals.Core activities of DBF are• Promoting community leadership among Dalit BahujanCommunities• To Address the issue of Dalits, Tribals and Women of Dalit, Tribal and other marginalized communities.•And mainly protecting and promoting the Human Rightsof Dalits.Duty heavy rains and floods in Andhra Pradesh 5 to 6Districts (Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Anatapur, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna) have been badly affected. No ofvillages has affected badly and some villages aretotally vanished. Some people have lost their lives,some are missing more became shelter less andsuffering with hungry and ill health from fast 5 days. The agriculture land has been worstly affected andmost of the people last their livelihood and livestocks.At Kurnool District Kunool, Nandyal, Adoni towns andthe other surrounding villages are worst- hit. Roughly 500 to 600 rural villages, 30 to 40 urban colony'shave been affected. At Srisailam dam the water levelhas been increased due to overflow of rivers and waterhas been flowed back. This case most of the urban colony's to sink in water where Dalits are residing.Still their houses are in flood water. They don't havefood and water from past 5 days. Roughly 1500 acreshas been damaged at Kurnool District Government has declared that 70,000 to 75,000 became shelter less 13died, 22 are missing, 6,000 houses are fully damaged,55,000 are partially damaged a loss of 40,000 hasaccrued, and the rivers, canals and roads are badly affected only at Kurnool district even High Ways arealso under water.Most of the effected people are from Dalit and Tribalfamilies who depend upon the daily wages. Thesesummer days they were registered with Employment Guarantee Scheme and are working. But due to suddenfloods they lost their lively hood daily wage which isfor total year. Now they are totally helpless.Particularly at Nandyal Division of Kurnool District1.5 core worth works have been stopped due to floods,means the daily wage labourers lost this amount.At Mahaboobnagar District Gadwal Division, Palnaduarea of Guntur, Nallamala forest area of Prakasam andKurnool which are under hilly areas and where the mostof Tribes particularly Chenchus and Yanadis are livingtotally lost their livelihood and shelter and theybecame helpless. These areas are located in remoteareas, where Government hasn't reached and neglectingthem. But our DBF folk reached those places andserving them. Government is also enumerating thesufferers they are supplying food, water and openedrelief camps but they are doing nominal work. Most of folk who affected by floods badly are Yanadis, Chenchus and Dalits. We have good, young & dynamicmanpower and we are expecting some more to serve. Itwill be very helpful to us if you join with us to give immediate support to 20 to 25 thousands of Dalits,Yanadi and Chenchu families who are totally affected.We are expecting the favorable answer from you as soonas possible because already the water diseases started to spread.Thanking youKORIVI VINAY KUMAR

Subject:
[sakya] 1 lakh Dalits and tribal Hindus embraced the Buddhist


Tens of thousands gathered at Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism. More than 1 lakh Dalits and tribal Hindus embraced the Buddhist faith in what is considered the largest mass conversion in the country. (The Hindu, 28th May 2007)------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -----
MUMBAI: A place marked by and perhaps limited to the elite and the popular in Mumbai on Sunday witnessed nearly 1 lakh people from tiny pockets of Maharashtra come together for a mass religious conversion rally at the Mahalaxmi Race Course.
Around 4 lakh people attended the rally organised by the Republican Party of India to declare their support for this conversion on the golden jubilee year of Babasaheb Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism (Bauddha Dhamma Deeksha).
However, while mass support was more than obvious, the guests mentioned on the invitation card — Dalai Lama and Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh — did not attend citing different reasons.
NEW PATH: A Dalit woman taking part in a mass conversion ceremony in Mumbai on Sunday. About 1 lakh Dalits and tribals converted to Buddhism in one of the largest conversions in the country. At right, the new converts offer prayers at the ceremony.
A majority of the people who took the "Deeksha" were tribals and followers of Sahitya Akademi winner and Dalit writer Laxman Mane, who has been touring the State after converting to Buddhism in October 2006.
Laxman Mane said: "Thousands of people from 42 different nomadic tribes have embraced Buddhism." He said tribals did not follow Hinduism and so it could not be termed a move away from Hinduism.
However, he said it was a step taken to protest against the apathy of the Government towards the basic needs of these people.
Several monks were present on the dais to offer prayers and "Deeksha" for the thousands who converted. Buddhism does not believe in the Hindu gods, hierarchy and idol worship. Republican Party of India President Ramdas Athawale, who was chairman of the organising committee, informed people about the rules and regulations of the new religion.
People came in vans, buses, and cycles, on foot from all over Maharashtra. They were chanting "buddham sharnam gacchami," "dhammam sharnam gacchami," and other slogans in praise of Dr. Ambedkar and Gautam Buddha. The entire area was dotted with colourful flags.
Suresh Alavane said: "We are bauddhas. We have to come to see Laxman Mane and to attend this function from Pune. Dr. Ambedkar wanted this function on December 16 in 1956 on the same venue but unfortunately he passed away just 10 days before that. Now his dream has come true."
Followers of Dr. Ambedkar kept streaming in from gate no.1 at the racecourse from early afternoon till late in the evening. Police presence was minimal and the organisers kept announcing directions for the thousands of children, women and men to follow.
The new converts offer prayers at the ceremony.
Chunnu PrasadCentre for Political StudiesJawaharlal Nehru UniversityNew Delhi-67
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