The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : After Kambalpalli, it is Vemagal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

After Kambalpalli, it is Vemagal

Special Correspondent

16 persons injured; hand of the land mafia suspected in the attack

MAFIA’S FINGERPRINT: The damaged loom at the vandalised house of a weaver in Vemagal.

BANGALORE: Even while the incidents of atrocities on marginalised classes at Kambalpalli in Chintamani taluk of Chickaballapur district are still fresh in the minds of the people, a similar attack has been reported at Vemagal in Kolar district.

This time it is the weavers, belonging to the Thogataveera Kshatriya community.

Sixteen persons have alleged that they were brutally beaten up and some of them had been admitted to a hospital.

Twelve other families belonging to the same community had been evicted from the village through sustained terror tactics by some vested interest groups.

Continuous harassment

Although such attacks had been carried out on these families for six years, the recent one on November 28 and 29 was the most brutal, according to Akhila Karnataka Thogataveera Kshathriya Yuva Vedike founder-president Ashwathanarayana.

Betta Hosapura village near Vemagal has 29 weaver families which had patta lands for the last two generations and weaving is their only profession.

Many of them earn just Rs. 100 a day although a few earn a little more by weaving silk fabrics.

One of the victims, who chose to be anonymous fearing reprisal, said: “On November 28, a group comprising around 30 people attacked our houses randomly and dragged out all the people in the huts and damaged the looms and the woven fabrics and household articles. They started beating us with clubs and lathis. Even children and the aged were not spared.”

Recalling the horror, another victim said: “They did not give any reason for the attack and only said that if the weaver families did not leave the place such incidents will recur.”

Mr. Ashwathanaryana said only three persons were able to walk and hold the press conference in Bangalore on Saturday.

The others were still in hospital.

The victims had filed a police complaint. But none of the persons responsible for the attacks had been arrested so far although they were all residents of the same place.

The vedike activists said that the harassment had been on for the last six months and women and children were barred from coming out of their houses after 6 p.m. It was difficult for them to even answer nature’s call.

Mr. Ashwathanarayana did not rule out the possibility of a land mafia behind the harassment.

For instance, the women (weaving community) were allowed to take water from the public taps only after others had drawn water.

He said despite all these problems none of the local political leaders had come to meet the injured persons.

Union Minister of Stage for Road Transport and Highways K.H. Muniyappa visited the hospital only once.

The place of attack is just half a kilometre away from the house of Karnataka State Youth Congress president Krishna Byre Gowda, who represented Vemagal in the previous Legislative Assembly.

The vedike had sought an appointment with the Governor Rameshwar Thakur to submit a memorandum.

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