The ruling DMK government has now blamed the downtrodden community of Vengaivayal in the case of human feces being found in the water tank provided to them for consumption. According to the status report filed by the Tamil Nadu CBCID police in the Madras High Court, three persons—namely Muraliraja, Sudarsan, and Muthukrishnan—from Vengaivayal village were involved in this incident. The Tamil Nadu police state that Muraliraja did this to take revenge on Padma’s husband, Muttiah, after a dispute in the village council meeting.

The police have alleged that on December 26, 2022, the villagers themselves mixed feces in the water tank of Vengaivayal village and created a hoax, claiming there was a foul smell. Moreover, the police have also released a video of the accused’s ‘confession’ about mixing feces in the water tank through News 18 News Agency.

Though a couple of years have passed since the Vengaivayal incident, the Tamil Nadu CBCID police, who were investigating the case, have yet to identify the culprits. Various political parties and social activists have continuously raised questions about this issue. The affected people have also filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking a CBI investigation. During their investigation into that petition, the Tamil Nadu CBCID police made this statement.

In response to this police action, the people of Vengaivayal village have announced a continuous hunger strike. The Tamil Nadu government has deployed thousands of policemen to prevent ‘strangers’ from entering the village. In addition, the villagers are presenting their claims through various media outlets. In addition, the villagers are presenting their claims through various media outlets.

From the very beginning, the TN police investigating the case seemed intent on placing the blame on the downtrodden. To accuse the people of Vengaivayal, the police have released an audio recording of one of the accused talking to his mother on the phone. In the audio, the mother asks the accused “not to accept the crime,” even though the police forced and tortured him to do so. The police threatened him by taking him to the police station under the guise of an investigation and demanding his confession.

The young man, tortured by the police for several hours during the investigation, recorded the conversation with his mother, but the police have misrepresented him as the culprit. Lawyer PA Mohan, who is handling the case on behalf of the villagers, said in a press conference, “The Tamil Nadu police are trying to make the villagers themselves criminals in the Vengaivayal case.”

On December 20, 2022, many villagers who drank the foul-smelling water in Vengaivayal fell ill and were admitted to the hospital. Upon examining the illnesses, the doctors confirmed that the problem was with the drinking water. After this, on December 26, the accused youth climbed into the tank and took photographs of the feces mixed in it. But the police accused the villagers of mixing the feces themselves.

“Should we drink the water ourselves after mixing feces?” was a question raised by the villagers, who strongly condemn the police’s lie that the villagers, who were questioning the situation, climbed into the tank and mixed excrement to “have fun with the whole village.” Villagers are also questioning how they fell ill on the 20th and were admitted to the hospital if they allegedly defecated in the water on December 26.

The villagers blame Muthiah, the husband of Panchayat President Padma, for the act of defecating in the drinking water tank. They believe Muthiah may have done this out of resentment after the villagers did not vote for him, especially after they exposed his lie in the village council meeting that he was being provided with purified drinking water.

But the police are providing heavy security to Muthiah, who has planned to malign the affected people of the village and released the video. Even the media has been prevented from meeting him.

This act of criminalizing the victims has been condemned by various political parties, but the ruling party remains deaf to the matter. On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu government issued a statement threatening that “no one should spread false information regarding this.”

This is the “ideal” of social justice offered by the DMK, which is advertising page after page as the achievement of the “Dravidian Model”—the government that protects social justice.

• Mahesh