A Munsiff Magistrate court sanctioned for Attappady with the topmost priority a few years ago continues to be in limbo in spite of the earnestness displayed by the High Court. The government is dilly-dallying over the choice of a building that can house the proposed court at Attappady.
The abandoned building of the Attappady Valley Irrigation Project (AVIP), former building of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Attappady Mini Civil Station, and former building of the Attappady Hills Area Development Society (AHADS) were some of the buildings considered for the court.
Whenever the government approached a building, there rose objections of varying types, validating the rumours that a strong mafia based in Attappady was working to scuttle the court project. A new Munsiff Magistrate court in Attappady will harm the interests of the mafias that thrive by exploiting the innocent Adivasis of the region.
With two police stations catering to 192 tribal settlements spread over a vast forested hilly area bordering Tamil Nadu, Attappady cases are currently handled by the Munsiff Magistrate Court at Mannarkkad.
For a litigant from a place like Varadimala, near Sholayur, it takes 89 kms of rough ride to reach Mannarkkad.
Distant dream
For majority of tribespeople in Attappady, juridical justice has been a distant dream. The efforts of the High Court to fulfill that dream by giving topmost priority to Attappady among the 53 new courts proposed across the State too have met barriers.
“Attappady is priority number one among the proposed munsiff magistrate courts to be set up in the State. It deserves to be the topmost priority considering the geography and demography of the tribal region,” said P. Prem Nath, secretary of the Victims Information, Sensitisation, Welfare and Assistance Society (VISWAS).
Mr. Prem Nath had put in a lot of effort to bring Attappady’s crying need to the attention of the High Court.
Attappady block panchayat president Eswary Resan said she would do everything possible in her capacity for setting up of the court.
“In my view, the empty buildings of the AHADS are the most suitable for the court. A court requires that the place should be quiet. Mini Civil Station and Block Panchayat building, which witness a flurry of social and political activities every day, are not fit for the court,” said Ms. Resan.