Re:Kuppam Case-What is the reality?

[Guest guest]

Ref: Dr. Sunitha Krishnana's message on Kupam Case.

Hats off to your decades old work with " commercial sexual exploitation "

Also to your ferrying the abandoned dead bodies of AIDS victims. But all

that is entirely beside the point.

The point here is that your man-in-residence in Kuppam, is under

tremendous pressure (as you obviously are) to say what did not happen.

Greater persons than your man-in-residence have wilted before the menace

of the police. People who have seen the lynching have gone away without

a trace. After all it does not take very reliable sources to parrot the

government stand. Even small children in Kuppam know exactly what the

mob did to Pownamma. Perhaps you still think that the emperor's clothes

are wonderful.

As for your man-in-residence, his performance on the day of enquiry was

there for everyone to see. He was shaken, he was trembling and sweating.

All he did was faithfully repeat what was taught him to say.

Can't you see that denying this incident vastly benefits the NACO and

the other state agencies? It is a matter of loyalty. If your

man-in-residence said that Pownamma was not lynched he must be having a

very powerful reason (threat?) for saying it. Even those who did hit her

with stones denied it. Those that saw the lynching have gone away

without a trace. Every paper except one have independently enquired and

confirmed the incident.

In a woman emaciated with diarrhea, and oral thrush there was some kind

of expediency to send along a technician to draw blood for an AIDS test.

Whom are we kidding? You mean that with the three out the many case

defining conditions Pownamma was suffering with, there was some

mysterious need for a technician to be dispatched for making an

test? Even the children in the colony knew that Pownamma had contracted

AIDS and that her husband had died of it.

Your faith in community based care is touching. Here we are every day

trying to see that children of parents with AIDS do not get pushed out

of the school, out of the mid-day meal lines, and the lines in front of

the village water taps. That even Pownamma's ashes would not be

collected by her tender loving mother and brother is another story in

itself. They were scared they would get the virus from the ashes. Now

you tell us about the wonderful care and support Pownamma would have

received from the family. That they burnt her body not in the common

grave yard (but in the one meant for Dalits; even this is

extraordinarily illuminating; that the wonderful heritage and culture of

our country has to do with separate glasses, separate colonies and even

separate graveyards for the Dalits)is the proof the wonderful community

support Pownamma was getting before being lynched. Come on Dr. Sunitha

let's grow up.

You are questioning the media role in this ghastly incident. But what

exactly has been the role of the police and the NACO officials and

belatedly you, who by subtle condemnation of the organization and mild

misleading of the forum, try to bury the truth? This is equally

questionable.

Your man-in-residence rang you up with a real fear. It could very well

be that the child will face the same fate. In that much your

man-in-residence has been very frank and forthright.

WE HAVE DONE THE RIGHT THING; WE HAVE PROVED THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS

BENDING OVER BACKWARDS TO DENY SOMETHING. WE HAVE PROVED THAT HOWEVER

HARD YOU TRY TRUTH WILL OUT.

With much regards and solidarity

We remain firmly with our story.

R. Meera

E-mail: <rmeera102@...>