MADURAI: Exploiting the marriage of two men from Dalit community who married caste Hindu women, a person had advised them to leave the village stating that they would otherwise become victims of honour killings and had a power of attorney for their land in his name. This ‘good samaritan’ had then usurped the land, without the knowledge of the owners. Therefore, the Dalits have appealed to the Chief Secretary to help them regain their property in Pillakattuvalasai village in Oddanchathiram block of Dindigul district.In his letter to the Chief Secretary on Saturday, M Murugan (34), had stated that his father Maran, had bought 4.12 acres of land from Manthri Rawther on August 21, 1967. His family was farming on the land.Meanwhile, his two brothers had married caste Hindu women after being in love with them. Using this as an excuse, Natchimuthu Gounder of the village had told them that the caste Hindus whose daughters were married to Dalits were angry and that they may resort to any action, including honour killing of the two men. Therefore, he had advised them to leave the village in their own interest.Before they left the village for Erode, Natchimuthu Gownder had persuaded them to grant him a power of attorney for the use of their land, which otherwise would become fallow, he had said. The gullible men had signed a power of attorney in his favour. But, he had registered the land in his name.When Murugan and his brothers realised that they had been taken for a ride by Natchimuthu Gounder, they had asked him to return their land and cancelled the power of attorney. They also lodged a complaint with the Kaliamandayam police station on November 3, 2006. The police accepted the complaint and Natchimuthu Gounder had promised to return the usurped land.Having waited for five years to get back their land, when Murugan and his brothers asked Natchimuthu Gounder to hand over the land, he had abused them and wrote to the Chief Secretary on Saturday to use his authority to restore their lands.Murugan had also approached Evidence, a Madurai based NGO, to help him and his brothers to get back their land. A Kadir, director of Evidence, said that this incident showed how Dalits were being misled into parting with their lands. This was not the first such incident and there were many Dalits who had fallen victim to such subterfuges of caste Hindus with political and financial clout. He hoped that the Chief Secretary would help Murugan and his brothers to get back their land.
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