ED to Close Case Against Dalit Farmers After Outrage Over Caste Mention, BJP Leader’s Ties: Report

The ED’s summons came to the two farmers – who didn’t know what the case against them was about – in July last year. A BJP leader was allegedly attempting to grab their land.

The Wire Staff

New Delhi: Days after social media outrage against an Enforcement Directorate case against two Dalit farmers who had challenged a Bharatiya Janata Party leader’s alleged designs on their land – one in which the central agency mentioned their caste group on the official summons – the ED has decided to close the case, according to reports.

The News Minute had reported on how the two farmers from Attur in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district had received summons from the ED in July 2023. Kannaiyan was 72 years old and Krishnan, his brother, is 67, according to Hindustan Times. TNM describes them as “in their 70s.”

The two own 6.5 acres of land in the village and subsist on Rs 1,000 of monthly pension. The two have reportedly accused a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader of trying to illegally grab their land.

The envelope carrying the ED summons said the farmers were ‘Hindu Pallars’.

The investigating officer is one Ritesh Kumar who asked the two to appear before the agency on July 5, 2023.

The summons surfaced on social media to widespread outrage.

Hindustan Times has quoted unnamed officials to say that the case was closed, as the predicate offence based on which the probe began was already over. The officials told the paper that the agency had no intentions of harassing the farmers.

They also said that the case was “based on a letter forwarded by Tamil Nadu forest department on July 12, 2021? and was related to the killing of two wild buffaloes under section 51 and 9 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

It is not immediately clear why the ED was tackling wildlife cases, even though the official cites a Financial Action Task Force mandate.

The farmers’ lawyer had told TNM that “the brothers had no idea what the case was, and there was nothing mentioned in the summons apart from asking them to appear before the ED with proper documents.”

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president and MP Thol Thirumavalavan and Puthiya Tamilagam chief K. Krishnasamy had issued statements of condemnation. The former called for the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to be slapped on the officials.

Courtesy : The Wire

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