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.