Villagers face long legal battle against illegal sand mining

On the Madras high court's November 29 direction to the TN government to close down all the sand quarries within six months, a youth said they stood united for a common cause. But caught in the legal tangle, the struggle is also about emerging unscathed from the cases foisted on them, he said, not willing to be named.
The villagers withstood the sand mafia, who wielded enormous clout in the government, since January 2014.The protest intensified in the months of February and March in 2015, resulting in law and order problems. "The police and PWD officials colluded with the sand mafia and filed several cases to scare away the villagers and quell the protest," said S Mahalakshmi, lawyer representing one of the protestors.
More than 20 cases were registered against 70 to 100 residents of the colony, predominantly college students, in Kaveripakkam and Avalur police stations, for protesting against the opening of the district administration's proposed sand quarry.
The police invoked IPC sections 147, 148, 294 (b), 323, 324, 436, 448, 452, 506 (1) and 506 (2), section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act and section 3 of PPDL (Prevention of damage to public property) Act against them. Besides, section 107 of CrPC was also invoked.
Though the villagers were acquitted in five cases, they face more than 15 cases now. "They were acquitted in five cases after the complainants (few villagers) admitted in open court that the contractors gave a bribe of 50,000 to SHG in Kalathur and 10,000 to each family in Sankaranpadi and neighbouring villages to stop protests against the proposed quarry," said Mahalakshmi.