Tamil Nadu: Tribal Women File Rape Complaint Against Employer

Another incident of oppression and harassment against socially primitive groups has come to light from Tamil Nadu.

Four tribal women hailing from different parts of Tamil Nadu and working in a woodcutting unit have lodged individual complaints against their employer in the Director General Police (DGP) office in Tamil Nadu.

4 Tribal Women Filed Rape Complaints Against Employer: 

According to reports by Hindustan Times, four women from the Irula Tribe working as bonded labourers in a wood-cutting unit in the Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu have lodged complaints against their employer for allegedly beating his employees, cursing them with castists slurs, financial abuse, sexual assaults and even rape.

The incident came to light when local officials rescued these women from assaults. Human Rights Activists claim that they have in total identified 20 such women who have been sexually assaulted by the accused. 

These women had registered a First Information Report (FIR) in the Kelambakkam police station days after they were rescued but no actions had been taken against the accused since then. That made them move to DGP's office to complain about the incident. They were taken to complain about the harassment by Asirwadham who is a state coordinator of People's Watch which is a state human rights organisation. 

The FIR registered in Kelambakkam police station did not have any mentions of rape but the accused was charged under the sections of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Castes Prevention of Atrocities Act. 

These tribal women hail from five different districts in Tamil Nadu and belong to Irula Tribe which is traditionally known for snake-catching but works as labourers in agricultural fields, wood-cutting units etc.

The complaints of these women said that the accused threatened them to stab if they would raise objections, and when they tried to escape, his goons used to kidnap and bring them back to the unit. The complaints also said how he used to beat them and come to forcefully have sex with them in their huts at midnight or daytime when their husbands were out picking wood and throwing their children out. These women said that they had no knowledge and education so they were afraid of their oppressive employer. These women are aged between 19-22 mostly. 

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