DHARMAPURI: Indirani still remembers the chaotic scenes in her village on June 20, 1992. “I was eight months pregnant when I was dragged from a makeshift shelter in the field (Kottai) by forest guards and policemen and violently pushed down. I fell flat on my tummy,” she says instantly demonstrating the scene. When over 100 women were forced to board lorries to head to the Harur Forest Range office, Indirani pleaded that she be spared in view of her pregnancy. “Come, you can deliver the child there,” one of the khaki clad men allegedly said.Indirani was later lodged at the Salem Prison where she delivered a baby girl. “We named her Jail Rani since she was born in prison. The warders in the jail were very friendly and they used to provide hot water to bathe the baby,” she says.She came out on bail after two months or so. “Jail Rani was 18 months old and hadjust begun walking when she accidentally fell into a huge pot of water and drowned. Had she been alive, she would have been nearing 20 now,” Indirani recalls.
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