31/12/2018 A critique of past commissions - TAMIL NADU - The Hindu

TAMIL NADU

A critique of past commissions

Dennis S. Jesudasan
CHENNAI, OCTOBER 01, 2018 00:00 IST
UPDATED: OCTOBER 01, 2018 05:03 IST

A collection of research papers under the title ‘Interrogating Enquiry Commission Reports
on Caste Violence’, featured in the recently published journal Review of Development &
Change , has provided a detailed analysis of five Commissions of Inquiry into incidents of
caste violence, including four in Tamil Nadu and one in Andhra Pradesh.
In their overview of these papers, assistant professor C. Lakshmanan of the Madras
Institute of Development Studies and professor K. Srinivasulu of the Department of
Political Science at Osmania University observed that the papers sought to provide an
understanding of caste violence from the perspectives of social justice and democracy.
“The reports of these commissions are almost never critically examined, and hardly any
attempt is made to use them as vital source material for research and critical analysis. It is
imperative to engage with these statutory resources and deliberate on their findings,
observations and recommendations,” the academics contended.
Assistant professor C. Jerome Samraj of Pondicherry University, who analysed the Justice B.
Baskaran Enquiry Commission on the caste violence between Adi Dravidars and Caste
Hindus in Bodi in 1989, noted that the judge had “overlooked all the instances pointing to
the practice of untouchability in the region.”

Vested interest

The report of the Justice S. Mohan High Level Committee that probed caste violence in
southern Tamil Nadu hinted that political parties and leaders had a vested interest in
keeping the pot of caste hatred and conflict simmering in the State, observed professor
M.N. Panini of MYRA School of Business, Mysuru.
Professor K.A. Manikumar of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli
observed that Justice Gomathinayagam, who led the Inquiry Commission that went into
the Kodiyankulam violence in Thoothukudi district, “perceived the State as a coercive
power and not as an institution to uphold and protect the freedom and rights of
individuals.”

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/a-critique-of-past-commissions/article25092116.ece 1/2
31/12/2018 A critique of past commissions - TAMIL NADU - The Hindu

“The Justice Sampath Commission [which looked into the Paramakudi police firing in
September 2011], by absolving the police of any wrong-doing, endorsed the public
execution of the Dalits,” contended assistant professor R. Thirunavukkarasu of the
University of Hyderabad.
Professor K. Srinivasulu of Osmania University noted that the report of the Justice K.
Punnaiah Commission (on the practice of untouchability against SCs and STs) was
“unrealistic” in hoping that untouchability would be wiped out within a short span of a few
months or years.

It is imperative to engage with these statutory resources and deliberate on their findings
and recommendations

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/a-critique-of-past-commissions/article25092116.ece 2/2