Hyderabad: The barbaric torture of Nirmalamma*, a Chenchu woman from Molachinthalapalli village in Kollapur mandal, Nagarkurnool district, has shocked the conscience of Telangana’s civil society. Though the issue has been projected as a fight between two farm workers which has been taken as an advantage by the tenant farmer belonging to a Backward Classes (BC) community, there is more to the issue than meets the eye, which is not being reported.
One of the accused still absconding
One of the four accused, Bandi Shivudu alias Shiva is still absconding (widely reported by media as arrested). Speaking with Siasat.com, Ambanna, a representative of Telangana Praja Front said that the Nagarkurnool SP assured his arrest as early as possible.
“Nagarkurnool SP is well aware of what’s happening. He has assured us that he will not only get Shivudu arrested but will also take action on those trying to protect them,” he said.
The deeper land angle
Though Kollapur police told Siasat.com that there was no angle of land in the entire incident when it was first reported by us, a deeper peep into the incident has shed light on how the Chenchus, who have been relocated from the core forest area have been subjected to unimaginable atrocities in the hands of those enjoying the political clout in Kollapur, where feudalism still rules the roost.
According to Ambanna, there were 16 Chenchu pentas (tribal settlements) that were relocated to Molachintalapalli village in the mid-2000s, when the Naxal insurgency was at its fag end in the Nallamala forest. Concerned that the Chenchus could be used as providers of food and shelter for the Naxals, the then government had shifted the Chenchus from these pentas to Molachinthalapalli (Brahmarambika colony) and allotted each of the households half an acre or so of agricultural land.
However, because of Chenchus who were used to living in the forest, and a sudden shift in their living conditions after being relocated, people from other communities started eyeing their lands.
During the reign of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, pattas were given to Chenchus for those lands, including the lands which the Chenchus cultivated. Presently there are around 35 acres of land in their possession.
In the case of Nirmalamma, her relatives said that Bandi Venkateswarlu (Venkatesh) and his younger brother Shivudu (Shiva) had taken on lease eight acres of land from Nirmalamma and her uncle Ramanna* in the same village. They employed Eshwaramma, her husband Venkatanna, her sister and her brother-in-law as farm workers on that land, paying each of them Rs 100 or less as wages per day.
Venkatesh actually got an agreement signed by Ramanna that the latter was selling his land to him, but told him that it was just a lease agreement. When Ramanna realised the truth, he started questioning Venkatesh, requesting him to let him reclaim his land.
The suspicious death of Ramanna
According to slain Ramanna’s relatives, he started negotiating the amount that he could pay Venkatesh to get his land back. Ramanna’s son Saleshwaram too started getting conscious about his father’s property being illegally usurped by Venkatesh.
While these negotiations were happening, one day, Venkatesh gave Ramanna Rs 100 to purchase some alcohol (illicit liquor). After consuming, Ramanna went and caught three turtles in a water body and went to his brother-in-law’s house in one of the Gudems located close to Molachinthalapalli.
He gave them two turtles and wanted to cook one for himself after returning home. Though his in-laws asked him not to go home that night, Ramanna set out, only to be found in a lifeless condition the next morning on the outskirts of that hamlet.
His body was stiff, as if his hands and legs were tied and he was beaten to death. Without a post-mortem (which is common in the forest), Ramanna’s body was buried.
Almost ten days later, the torture of Eshwaramma happened. That was when the post-mortem of Ramanna’s body was done again.
The relatives said that Nirmalamma, who was well aware of how Ramanna died, and having suffered exploitation at the hands of Venkatesh and Shiva, had finally decided to reclaim her land back.
She had communicated her intent to Venkatesh as well. However, he allegedly convinced her husband Venkatanna that he would pay more lease amount, and if the couple resisted, they wouldn’t be able to lease out their land to anyone else.
Venkatanna obliged but Nirmalamma, who was fortunate to have studied till Class IV, didn’t. That was the cause of a quarrel between the couple, after which she went to her maternal village Chukkapalli, refusing to work for them anymore.
“Venkatesh knew that he couldn’t directly bring her back. So he tried to convince her elder sister and her husband to bring her back. He even tried to use Saleshwaram to get her back. When nothing else worked, he sent his brother Shivudu, who finally brought her back,” said Ambanna.
“She was first beaten by Venkatesh, and when Saleshwaram objected to the torture and asked the former to drop Nirmalamma* at her house, instead of doing that, they took her to their house and tortured her for a week,” he added.
The torture of Nirmalamma
Nirmalamma was subjected to unimaginable torture at the hands of Venkatesh, his wife Shivamma, and his brother Shiva. A cloth was doused in diesel and was used to set her private parts on fire, after beating her up for days.
“When they thought she died, they dragged her outside and poured water on the wounds, when she woke up and started screaming again, as the wounds further aggravated. She had developed blisters in the area around her reproductive organ.
When Nirmalamma’s mother came to know about her daughter’s confinement at Venkatesh’s house, she went there. But he didn’t allow her to meet Nirmalamma. Somehow she came out and screamed, crying at the sight of her mother standing outside the boundary wall. It was then that medication was given to her at a local RMP clinic. That was how the matter became public,” Ambanna told Siasat.com.
The atrocities of Venkatesh and Shiva (still absconding)
According to Nirmalamma’s mother, Venkatesh has exploited and raped several Chenchu women in the village including her. Ambanna tells Siasat.com that Ramanna’s death was 106th or 107 the death of a Chenchu in the village under suspicious circumstances. However, due to being close to the ruling establishment, whether BRS in the past or Congress in the present, he has been having a home run in illegal sand transportation and atrocities.
It could be recalled that when Siasat.com had called Kollapur police station after the torture of Nirmalamma, the sub-inspector had said that there was no issue of land in the entire incident.
Character assassination of the victim
According to Abhinav, state general secretary of Kula Nirmulana Porata Samithi (KNPS), the district superintendent of police has been trying to malign the character of Nirmalamma, by spreading false rumours that she had an affair with someone in Chukkapalli, and that was why she went there. Even certain women activists belonging to the so-called progressive organisations have been spreading the same on social media, trying to influence the readers.
“The video being circulated has been played only in certain parts, planned and released to make it look like Nirmalamma had done something wrong, and her elder sister and brother-in-law were beating her. In reality, Venkatesh forced them to beat her, as they were also bonded labourers working for a paltry sum. They orchestrated the video in a way that created doubts in the minds of the people. This video was from the day when Nirmalamma was brought to Molachinthalapalli by Shivudu (Shiva). She had undergone unimaginable torture for almost ten days after that,” Abhinav told Siasat.com.
He also said that even women leaders of certain so-called progressive organisations were spreading misinformation on social media by maligning the character of Nirmalamma, the victim who survived.
(The names have been changed to protect the identity of the victim and their family.)
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