People belonging to the tribal Malai Vedan community living in the villages of Thuvarimaan, Kottaimedu, and Manaadimangalam of Madurai district have complained that the Revenue Divisional Officer Sugi Pramila demanded ₹30,000 as bribe to issue community certificates for them.
Who Are The Malai Vedans?
The Malai Vedan community, one of the 36 indigenous groups in Tamil Nadu, migrated to the plains of the unified Madurai district about a century ago, during the rule of Marthanda Varma, the king of the Travancore princely state. According to rural folklore, they originated from the Idukki district. Formerly hunters in the Western Ghats, the community transitioned to agriculture for their livelihood.
According to the 2011 Census, the community has a population of approximately 7,500 individuals, primarily residing in the Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, and Nilgiris districts. In the Dindigul districts, they are spread across 28 villages within the Pazhani and Dindigul revenue divisions. The community association asserts that the population could be at least three times higher than the government’s estimates.
A documentary made based on the tribal groups of India by Prasar Bharti during 1980s says that the Malai Vedans consider themselves to be the descendants of Kannapa Nayanar, the ardent Shiva devotee.
Persistent struggles starting from 1964, spearheaded by leaders from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), resulted in the inclusion of the community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. This inclusion was made possible through The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Orders, 1976.
However, members of the community continued to face neglect as authorities refused to accept their demands for the community’s name to be recorded in revenue records. They still find it difficult to receive any of the benefits entitled to them.
As a result, most people have not been able to pursue higher education and get jobs due to the lack of the community certificate. This has deprived them of moving up the socio-economic ladder for the past several decades.
Community certificate is an important document issued by the Tahsildar or Deputy Tahsildar of the Revenue Department to certify that a person belongs to a particular reserved community like Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes.
Community certificate is mandatory for obtaining benefits in education and employment sectors from the Government.
However, to get this community certificate, members of the Malai Vedan community have to cough up a bribe of ₹30,000 go the Revenue Divisional Officer Sugi Pramila who has the power to issue the certificate. More than 250 people have been affected by this.
Who Is Sugi Pramila?
Sugi Pramila joined the Revenue Department as Junior Assistant in 1993 when she was 19. She was offered the job on compassionate grounds after her father who was a Village Administrative Officer died.
Ironically, she had won the Kalpana Chawla award in 2012 when as a Flying Squad Tahsildar in Kanyakumari district, she confronted criminals involved in smuggling of rice and kerosene to Kerala, which were intended for the public distribution system (PDS). As a result of her actions, she encountered numerous death threats.
She is now the Revenue Divisional Officer in one of the four zones of Madurai District.
The Nexus
RDO Premila has apparently set brokers within the Malai Vedan community to collect the bribes on her behalf so that she is not directly linked to the crime. The broker from Malai Vedan community will act as a middleman in obtaining community certificate.
According to a phone conversation released by YouTuber Maridas, the brokers appointed by RDO Sugi Premila and her henchmen have been threatening victims as well as those who share the news on social media.
In a phone conversation between one of the victims and the RDO broker, the broker inquires about the content he posted on his Facebook account against the RDO, to which the victim responds that it is newspaper content about the bribery charge against her. The broker started abusing the victim and dared him to post on Facebook that he bribed the RDO for obtaining the community certificate. The supporter of RDO also asked the victim to remove the Facebook post regarding this.
RDO’s Henchman: Haven’t you bought the certificate from this RDO?
Victim: Yes, I did.
RDO’s Henchman: Then for what p**da (cuss word in Tamil) have you posted on Facebook? It has the RDO’s photo. Why did you keep it?
Victim: But I paid money for the certificate.
RDO’s Henchman: Why are you giving money and getting the certificate then? Why did you get it by giving money? Post that you’ve obtained certificate by money.
Victim: They’re not giving the certificate if we don’t give money.
RDO’s Henchman: Then post on Facebook that you got the certificate after bribing.
Victim: That’s what has been reported in the newspaper right!
RDO’s Henchman: That report has her photo! How dare you keep it? Don’t you have sense? Arivu Ketta K**dhi (Brainless cunt in Tamil). How come ‘you people’ are like this!
The following is the conversation between the broker and a Malai Vedan man who refuses to bribe the RDO for the certificate. In this audio, the supporter of RDO can be heard saying that he himself had paid ₹60,000 to get certificate for his son who had completed Class 10.
RDO Broker: Why are posting these things on Facebook? Remove it. You guys are shaming our own community.
Victim: I’m also one among the victims. There are so many people affected by this.
RDO Broker: Okay. I understand. But should the entire world know about this? You should come talk fo us in private. I’ll tell you one thing. You are going to be the reason for the denial of certificate for the entire community.
Victim: We should uplift our community. We should not bribe for certificate. Why should we pay money?
RDO Broker: You go confront them daringly man. You won’t bribe right? The one who has stomach ache is getting it by paying money. You go confront them directly why are you advertising about it? This will become a big problem. Please listen to me. I am telling this for your good only.
Victim: You should also come forward for this brother. These many irregularities are happening.
RDO Broker: I’ll come. I am not saying no. For me, my stomach ache is that my son has completed class 10 and I need it urgently. Had it been like your case where I can get it late, I would leave. Those who need it are getting it by giving money. When your son completes 10th, paying ₹500 won’t be a big deal.
Victim: ₹500 means it is not an issue at all.
RDO Broker: I’m just giving you an example. We too paid ₹60,000. Where and to whom can can I go and complain! We got it. I needed it badly so I paid to get it.
The victim says that he has a copy of the emoluments that he is entitled to and has been running pillar to post for more than 3 months to which the broker says that if he shows that copy saying that ‘that Amma’ (Sugi Premila) has waived off the money, the official would give.
However, the victim laments that he has spoilt them by habitually bribing.
In another video released by Youtuber Maridas, he released the threat calls faced by the victims for speaking out.
In one of the phone conversation, the RDO Broker can be heard exerting pressure on the victim to say that he did not get his certificate by paying money.
The RDO Broker tells the victim who had spoken against the bribery scandal, “Tell that you got community certificate for your son without any bribe”.
“Tell that you only said what you heard as hearsays about people giving money to get certificate. Don’t tell you paid money to get the certificate.”, the RDO broker threatens.
In the third phone conversation, another RDO Broker plays victim card that he too is trapped in this nexus and begs the victim not to point fingers at him. He says that he will be jailed if he gets exposed.
In another audio, a Sub-Inspector of Police of that area can be heard asking the victum about his details and the complaint. When asked how much money he had paid to get the certificate, the victim says that he paid ₹30,000.
Being a microscopic minority community, they have been unable to organize themselves and take legal recourse. The media outlets which claim to be champions of the oppressed have turned a blind eye to this matter.
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