Activists stage demonstration in Tirunelveli against attack on PUCL leader

Human Rights Defenders Alert-India (HRDA) and various political parties and organisations on Saturday staged a demonstration at Palayamkottai condemning the recent attack on PUCL national general secretary V. Suresh and demanding closure of illegal quarries.

Mr. Suresh was attaked during a public hearing on impact of quarrying organised by Arappor Iyakkam, a non-governmental organisation, in Tirunelveli on November 2.

Around 25 men, who claimed to be lawyers representing quarry owners, disrupted the meeting, as villagers began voicing their grievances. Amid the commotion, they started hurling plastic chairs, which hit Mr. Suresh on his head.

Speaking to media persons during the protest, Henri Tiphagne, executive director, People’s Watch, said that over 50 organisations had joined hands with HRDA to condemn the attack on Mr. Suresh, a senior lawyer of Madras High Court, who is specially assigned by judges in many quarry-related cases.

Mr. Tiphagne alleged that some of the lawyers involved in the attack had criminal cases, including murder and offences under the Explosive Act, against them. One had previously been suspended from bar council before being reinstated.

Even members of the public who participated in the meeting were attacked, he said.

Mr. Tiphagne observed that the call against mineral looting had begun from Tirunelveli, and the organisations gathered at the protest were committed to the cause and were not there for electoral politics.

He also urged the police to register a case based on a complaint submitted by Arappor Iyakkam’s coordinator Jayaram Venkatesan, warning that if a complaint was not registered further protests would be conducted until action was taken.

Besides Mr. Suresh and Mr. Jayaram Venkatesan, CPI(M) State committee member K.G. Baskaran were among those present at the protest.