Shocking visuals of Tamil Nadu police brutality on Hindus as cops forcibly removed Ganesha murtis have surfaced on social media. Hindu women have alleged molestation and physical abuse at the hands of cops, and videos of children tearfully describing how their mothers were disrobed show the state of Hindus in the DMK-ruled state.
Barbaric to say the least . @India_NHRC ! These people were Tortured for sticking to their faith . Power supply cut off at midnight ,Women harrassed , kids beaten up and elders made to go through the agony of watching all this . This happened in Vkalathur , Perambalur . All these… pic.twitter.com/qq5esrJiww
— karthik gopinath (@karthikgnath) September 20, 2023
The DMK government had introduced rules and regulations that were arbitrary for putting up Ganesha Pandals this year and reportedly instructed authorities not to grant permission for new pandals and new routes. Hindus of V Kalathur and KaiKalathur, villages in the Perambalur district, had sought permission to install Ganesha murtis in their villages. As authorities didn’t issue orders granting permission sooner, they kept the murtis in the local temples for worship on September 17.
On September 18, the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, power was shut down in V Kalathur village in the middle of the night, and cops came to remove the murti as authorities didn’t approve the petition seeking permission. The murti was kept inside the Selva Ganapathy temple, and Hindus of every age protested against the removal. If ground reports are to be believed, cops descended on them like they were dealing with heinous criminals and brutally beat men, women, old people, and even children.
Many videos, taken in the dark as power was shut off, with victims describing the horror, have surfaced on social media. In one such video recorded by Narathar media, a YouTube channel, women and children narrate the ordeal they underwent in the middle of the night and the extent of brutality done by Tamil Nadu police under DMK. At the beginning of the video, an old woman says, “They tortured women and pulled their sarees. Young boys were beaten. They came at 12 am to take the murti. They took us to the station at that time. They did things that shouldn’t be done to a 15-year-old girl. What will be her future?”
Another woman says the Inspector pulled her saree. The third woman in the video says when they refused to budge from protesting and said, “You can pour poison in our mouths if you want,” they were molested and dragged to the police vehicle. Children who followed their mothers to the vehicle were also treated brutally. A woman describes how a cop tried to punch a kid with an umbrella when the kid questioned him. A man was rammed into the truck despite agreeing to board the police vehicle and go to the police station. He sustained wounds on his head. The video, despite being recorded in the middle of the night, shows this specific brutality clearly.
A small boy says, “When they removed my mom’s saree and hit her chest, my heart couldn’t take it.” Recalling the horrible moment, he tears up, and one can see many boys crying while talking about how brutally the police handled their mothers and molested them in public. Another middle-aged woman says she was pushed down by a cop who pulled her saree. She sustained an injury on her forehead. “He was the most brutal”, she says.
A young girl appears on the video without showing her face. She was also manhandled and sustained injuries. Kids who saw her being chased by cops say that she was filming them entering the temple with shoes and breaking the murti before removing it. Cops allegedly snatched her phone and broke it. She was hit on the leg and sustained injuries. Serious allegations like women being kicked at their genitals while being transported to the police station have also been leveled.
Children staged protest at Perambalur Police @Plrdtpolice
— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) September 19, 2023
Station to condemn police action of confiscating a small Ganesha idol kept by children for #VinayagarChaturthi celebrations.
Under #Church #ConversionMafia influence @arivalayam #RiceBag CM @mkstalin @CMOTamilnadu doing… pic.twitter.com/5Al0ZoLyLG
Hindus of V Kalathur have been facing many issues in exercising their rights to practice their religion, as Muslims have become the majority in the village. A detailed account of how Hindu rights were gradually snatched away, starting with opposing temple procession through ‘Muslim street,’ can be read here. After a long and tedious legal process, Hindus established their rights to conduct festivals, and the court observed, “allowing religious intolerance is not good for a secular country and ‘resistance’ by one religious group, if reciprocated by another, could lead to chaos and riots.”
A Muslim man had set fire to the temple chariot in 2021, and even though he confessed that he would do it again if he got the chance, police let him off, saying he was mentally unstable. Hindu women cite the history and ask what reason authorities had to deny permission when they were mindful of the situation and didn’t put up decorations or sound systems as part of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
Another village KaiKalathur in the same district also faced a similar issue when cops came to seize the Ganesha murti SC Hindus had installed for worship. Revenue officials arrived with cops in the middle of the night to remove the murti placed at Adi Dravida Street. The next morning villagers staged a protest, and Communists extended their support accusing cops of robbing the Hindus’ right to worship.
Hindu women of V Kalathur village raise the following questions to the government.
“They verbally abused us. We haven’t done anything to anyone. We offer worship in our houses and our streets. Do we have to get permission for this? Do we need permission to eat food from our own plate?”
“Don’t we have a place in this village? Can’t we have gods here? Should we leave the place?”
“What did we do to face such brutality? Did we riot or something? We only offered worship in the temple. How will we be able to worship our deities if they behave like this?”
“Are we your slaves for you to barge like this and drag us away? Don’t you dare come here for anything(to politicians)”
The next day Hindus staged a protest along with Hindu outfits like Hindu Munnani. They gathered at the District Collector’s office, demanding that the murtis be returned, and action be taken against cops who unleashed brutality. Earlier, murti makers were targeted by cops on false allegations, and videos of common Hindus who invested money in the business by availing debt went viral on social media.
By disrupting the business of people dependent on the outcomes our festivities offer, DMK is not only hurting the feelings of the practitioners of Sanatana Dharma but also stopping the multiplier effect in the local economy.
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) September 15, 2023
With Vinayagar Chaturthi a few days away, this… pic.twitter.com/DcMWMydyIJ
However, the DMK government, which has let its minister on the loose to make a call for “eradicating Sanatana Dharma,” cannot be expected to pay attention to their voices, and only more brutality can be expected with a pliant media completely suppressing such violation of human rights.
