Bangalore, Apr 7 (Agencies) : Years after Veerappan’s death, his wife Muthulakshmi surfaced and sought a CBI probe into alleged atrocities committed by a Special Task Force on tribals, especially tribal women in its hunt for the forest brigand. Muthulakshmi had till now been enmeshed in a number of legal battles.
Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Muthulakshmi lashed out at former Karnataka DGP and IG Shankar Bidari calling him a rapist. She also wanted those held guilty by a Human Rights Commission report punished.
Muthulakshmi described Bidari, who was then Deputy Commander of the Special Task Force constituted to nab Veerappan, as “an inhuman person with no concern for women whatsoever”. She held him responsible for rapes and torture of many tribal women.
She recollected alleged atrocities committed by the STF under Shankar Bidari against tribal women including rape and administering electric shocks and said “that the very reason we did not speak was the fear of losing our lives.”
Muthulakshmi has gone to court against films being made on Veerappan in Kannada and Tamil and wants the projects scrapped as they ‘violated’ human rights. Two films — “Attahasa” in Kannada and Tamil “Vanyudham”, are being made by MR Ramesh, a Bangalore resident.
According to Muthulakshmi, she had filed a petition in Chennai High Court seeking a stay on the film. The plea is still pending hearing. “The person has no right to make a film about the personal life of my late husband or me. It violates human rights,” she alleged.
On April 25, 2011, Muthulakshmi was handed over to Tamil Nadu Police in connection with a case pending against her in Erode district after being released from Bangalore Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara following her acquittal in all five cases against her in Karnataka.