Village elders forced woman to drink poison

NAMAKKAL: Truth begins to surface one after another at the tiny hamlet, Jambumadai, following the controversial child marriages that caused ripples among the human rights and child rights activists. More than a dozen families who were ostracised on various reasons have been living in exile for over 15 years. They have sought the intervention of the officials to relieve them from clutches of the community panchayat.Jambumadai caught the attention of one and all recently when five girls, below 12 years, were recently allegedly married off. The police booked cases against the parents and bridegrooms after the incident was widely reported in the press. Almost immediately after the controversial child marriages, bitter truths began to emerge from the underdeveloped hamlet, which comes under the Vadavathur revenue village in this district.Dozen FamiliesInformed sources said that more than a dozen families were ostracised in the village some 15 years ago. The family of Venkatraman was banished because his daughter eloped with a man 12 years ago. Subsequently, the community panchayat issued a diktat banishing the family.So was the case with the family of Pushparaj. He and his family members were subjected to a lot of miseries due to the ostracisation, the sources said. The families of Giluku (nick name), Veerasamy, Sivagami, Purushothaman, the daughter of Thalama­samy Naidu and Kakaayi’s daughter were among those who were banished by the community panchayat in Jambumadai. According to the sources, a married woman was forced to consume pesticide because she had developed an affair with a man in the village. Deprived of RightsSpeaking to Express, a young man whose family was banished some years ago, said the officials were never bothered about such illegal actions of the community panchayat. “Although my family lodged a complaint with the Erumaipatty police, they did not take adequate action to rein in the community panchayat. They simply held some inquiries and turned a blind eye.” He said that he spent his childhood alone at home, not even able to play with his peers. This man, who was deprived of basic democratic rights, sought the district administration to intervene.