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.