The PUCL national and the PUCL Tamil Nadu– Puducherry strongly condemn the assault on Dr. V. Suresh, National General Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and Senior Advocate of the Madras High Court, which took place today at Tirunelveli during a public hearing organised by Arappor Iyakkam Iyakkam (People’s Campaign for Justice) regarding social and environmental issues concerns faced by villagers due to illegal stone quarrying in Tirunelveli district.
For many decades, the illegal exploitation of mineral resources has been taking place unchecked in several parts of Tirunelveli and its surrounding regions. This has caused severe environmental degradation across the district.
In response, the Arappor Iyakkam organized a public hearing at Rose Mahal, Tirunelveli. The meeting was attended by Mr. Jayaraman, Organizer of Arappor Iyakkam; Advocate Dr. V. Suresh, General Secretary of the National PUCL; and Mr. Nandakumar of the Thannatchi (Self-Rule Movement), among others.
The hearing started at 10.30 am and was proceeding peacefully. However at around 11 am, 25 people came and sat at the back of the hall who later on claimed to be advocates for quarry owners. One, Mr Vinoth Kumar and Arogiyasamy led the group and forcibly started disrupting the hearing. They violently shouted that they will not allow the public hearing to continue and villagers to continue with the deposition.
Despite the request of Dr Suresh to calm down, providing assurance that they will be allowed an equal chance to speak in the hearing and respond to the testimonies of the villagers, they did not heed to his request. Dr Suresh specifically told Mr Vinoth Kumar and Mr Arogiyasamy that if they wanted they can also speak immediately and also gave them the mic. They refused to take it and insisted that the meeting should be cancelled immediately.
During this time, one of the members who accompanied Vinoth Kumar and Arogiyasamy threw a chair forcibly aimed at Dr Suresh’s head. The chair hit Dr Suresh’s right side of the head on the backside just above the neck causing an bleeding injury. (He was immediately taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and is now in stable condition, though he continues to experience pain in his head) Very soon two others from Vinoth’s group threw chairs at the gathering, seeking to intimidate the peaceful assembly.
It is very clear that the crowd of people led by Vinoth Kumar and Arogiyasamy intended to violently disrupt the public hearing by their violent actions, threats and intimidation of the panel members and those who were there to depose about the issues they face due to stone quarrying.
Through their violent action, the aim of the group was to prevent the local villagers from exercising their fundamental right of free speech, assembly and association as guaranteed under article 19(1) of the Indian constitution and protection of human rights act and other laws. The aim was also to cause fear and apprehension in the minds of ordinary villagers so as to prevent them from complaining about how mining was disrupting their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment before any authority or body.
It is apparent that hired agents of the mining mafia—posing as members of the public—deliberately sought to disrupt the constitutional freedoms of speech and assembly by violent disruption through criminal intimidation and causing of physical hurt.
We are concerned that the deliberate targeting of Dr Suresh is nothing other than an effort to intimidate a strong voice against illegal mining in the state. Dr. V. Suresh has been consistently pursuing legal action for many years against those involved in the illegal extraction of mineral wealth and has secured several judgments which have come down heavily upon illegal sand mining. Consequently, he has long faced hostility and threats from the mining mafia.
The PUCL is concerned that the attackers may have the backing of members of both the ruling and opposition parties who seem to benefit from the illegal mining racket. Shockingly, this attack occurred in the presence of the police, and video footage shows police apprehending only one individual and taking him in a police vehicle. The police must arrest all those involved, without any political bias, and register cases against them.
The Tamil Nadu Government must also ensure the safety of Dr. V. Suresh, who has been fighting relentlessly against the plunder of mineral resources, and Mr. Jayaraman, Organizer of the Arappor Iyakkam, along with others involved in this struggle.
The PUCL also strongly asserts that we will continue to support all those who raise their voice in favour of constitutional values and we will not be intimidated by thuggish attempts at curtailing the constitutional right of ‘we the people’ to speech, expression and assembly.
Kavita Srivastava (President)
9351562965
R. Murali (President PUCL, TN & Puducherry)
9443852788
Sekhar Annadurai ( General Secretary PUCL TN & Puducherry))
9486240994
