Tension in Kerala village following court-ordered eviction drive

An eviction drive in Ernakulam district witnessed tense moments on Wednesday when it was resisted by the local Dalit residents, leading to police using water cannons, arresting and removing protestors.

Hundreds of police personnel in riot gear were deployed in the area to assist the advocate commission members who arrived to evict the residents based on a court order.

However, the protestors prevented them from entering the area to reach the houses that were to be evicted, and after a several-hour-long stand-off, the police used water cannons and arrested the agitators, which included women and CPI(M) activists.

Subsequently, the advocate commission team, along with police personnel, moved towards the houses to be evicted, but were again stopped by the residents.

Thereafter, the commission and the police moved out of the area on the directions of state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.

Chennithala's office, in a statement, said that the minister directed the DGP to stop the police action as the eviction process and the opposition to it had turned violent.

The minister said that force should not be used by the police as the protestors included women and children.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) criticised the police action against the protestors, terming it as ''highly objectionable''.

In a statement, party state secretary M V Govindan said the police was trying to evict 8 Dalit families, which had been living there for decades, based on a court order.

He claimed that the police entered homes and tried to attack women and children.

He said that during the time of the LDF government, police tried to help with the eviction process 14 times, but it never became violent.

''However, within 48 hours of the UDF coming to power, the police became violent and attacked the helpless people,'' the Marxist veteran alleged.

He further said that the police arrested and removed from the area the local CPI(M) leaders who reached there to help the Dalit families, and alleged that Congress workers intimidated reporters who tried to highlight the issue.

Govindan said that the CPI(M) will strongly oppose any attempts to attack Dalits and poor people with the aid of the administration.

One of the commission members told reporters that they only attempted to implement the court orders, and they will again try to do so.

''We did not provoke anyone or harm anyone. The Supreme Court orders have to be implemented, and anyone obstructing them has to be removed by the police,'' the commission member said.

The eviction drive at Pariyathukavu has been a contentious, ongoing dispute for years and several attempts have been reportedly made in the past, but unsuccessfully.

It stems from a property dispute where a private individual has successfully proved himself to be the owner of the land where the Dalit families have been residing for years, police said.

Appeals by the Dalit families against their eviction have been dismissed by the courts on every occasion, it said.

The families claim that the land they have been residing on was government land and not that of a private individual, it further said.

However, the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court, have upheld the ownership of the private individual who is now trying to get the apex court's decision implemented by seeking eviction of the residents, leading to the protests by the Dalit families.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)