Veerappan's aides on death row were bulldozed from both sides, says NGO

The Supreme Court’s six week reprieve to four of Veerappan’s aides after the President rejected their mercy plea last week has come as a huge relief to those who have been closely involved in their legal struggle. Providing legal assistance to Gnanaprakasham, Simon, Madaiah and Bilavendra right from the trial stage as part of a larger joint-campaign for those charged under the draconian Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, is a Madurai-based human rights group called People’s Watch. (TADA was repealed in 1995) The four associates of slain forest brigand Veerappan were awarded the death penalty by the Supreme Court in 2004 in a 1993 landmine blast case that killed 22 people. Firstpost spoke with Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director, People’s Watch, on his association with the four death row convicts and his reaction to Supreme Court’s decision to stay the execution till further orders. Excerpts from the interview Your initial reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the execution We are breathing easy only now. They are practically our own family members. We are educating many of their relatives. They’ve become lawyers, social workers, they are working with us. It is much more emotional for us. [caption id=“attachment_634748” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Protests against the death penalty being given to the four. Image Courtesy: People’s Watch[/caption] Our engagement with them began in 1997. And it came about because of a letter from a prisoner Arul Das. He was charged under TADA and was lodged in the Mysore prison. He heard about us and wrote to us. That led us to send a fact-finding team there which shocked our conscience. And that led us to take up the defence of TADA victims in TADA courts and the complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) followed thereafter. Gnanaprakasham, Simon, Madaiah and Bilavendra were among 121 who we were defending in the TADA courts. 111 got acquitted and 10 were convicted. Seven of the 10 got life sentence. We filed appeal of 10 and pursued seven in the Surpreme Court. Of the seven, three were acquitted. And in case of these four, the life sentence got converted to death sentence in Supreme Court. And that was shocking part. We should not forget that when Justice Sabharwal passed this judgment the Justice Sadashiva committee report of the NHRC was not yet released. (The Justice Sadashiva Committee, which was set up to inquire into atrocities committed by the Special Task Forces (STF) during the operation to nab Veerappan indicted the STF of encounter killings and indiscriminately detaining people under TADA) Given your association with Gnanaprakasham, Simon, Madaiah and Bilavendra, how do you view their case? They are representatives of a larger section of people who were bulldozed on both sides. We are not people who believe Veerappan was a freedom fighter. Veerappan was a sandal wood smuggler who had political links, which is why he was never caught. But then he lived in the forest and the people also lived in the forest. On one side they had to face the wrath of the STF and on the other side, they had to face the wrath of Veerappan. This was the situation that a large number of the poorest of the poor were in. And violence from the STF included sexual violence and various forms of torture - institutionalized torture in places called ‘workshops’. Detainees were electrocuted. We continue to run our rehabilitation centres in Kolathur where we give physiotherapy to the victims even now. Not a single STF personnel has been punished. All four were tried under TADA despite it being repealed. The trial court actually said the TADA charges should be removed. The father of one of the policemen who was slain went to Supreme Court and had the TADA charges restored on them. And that is why they were held under TADA. And we lost a chance of going to High Court for an appeal. TADA cases have been appealed in Supreme Court within 30 days. We filed an appeal against life sentence. And that got converted into death sentence despite an absence of an appeal by the state asking for death sentence. We then filed a mercy petition before governor, which was forwarded to the President and which he has now disposed of. What will your priority be now? Now we have to wait. We don’t want to get too excited. The Supreme Court is waiting for the judgment in case of Bhullar. And the moment they get that cleared, then this case will come up. You comments on the President’s recent spate of rejection of mercy pleas. It is very unfortunate that all this happens after Justice Verma has recommended that there should be no death penalty. This also shows that when courts intervene, we need not lose lives. In this particular case, the success is because of the Tamil Nadu media, which flashed the news immediately to thwart any attempt of a secretive hanging.