Reel protest against death penalty
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A little over a year ago Tamil Nadu had been swept by a wave of protests as thousands had taken to the streets, campaigning against the death penalty. They were demanding the commutation of the death penalty awarded to Perarivalan, Santhan and Murugan in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case among others.
Signature campaigns and hunger strikes had been observed across the state and a 27-year-old Irula girl from Mangalapadi in Kancheepuram drew everyone’s attention to the issue by setting herself ablaze on a Sunday evening. She was Senkodi, a child labourer (in a brick kiln) turned civil rights activist representing Kancheepuram Makkal Manram.
In the days following her suicide, commutation of the trio’s death penalty became the dinner table debate in most households. The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution pressing for the commutation of their death penalty, while the Madras High Court stayed their execution for eight-weeks.
A year later, Vetrivel Chandrasekhar, a city-based journalist turned filmmaker, has documented the making of a civil rights activist and the anti-death penalty movement that created ripples across TN. From individuals to civil rights activists, people who participated and took the movement to greater heights then, particularly Perarivalan’s mother Arputhammal, feature in the hour-long documentary titled Ippadikku Thozhar Senkodi.
While giving due importance to Senkodi by carrying her image in the film’s cover and naming it on her, Vetri vehemently argues against such suicides. “Initially, 26 people were sentence to death in the Rajiv case. Supreme Court reduced it to four. It became three after Nalini was given clemency. No one sacrificed their lives,” said Vetri.
“All that people like Senkodi and Muthukumar have to do is channelize their knowledge and energy to galvanize public support for just causes,” he added.
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