A court at Valliyoor on Friday acquitted three anti-nuclear activists, including S.P. Udhayakumar, in a case pertaining to the attack on two fishermen for not contributing to Idinthakarai-based anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) agitation. The court, however, awarded seven-year imprisonment to 18 others.
Twenty-two persons had been accused in the case and one among them died during trial. When the anti-KKNPP agitation was at its height in 2011, police registered 349 cases against more than 1,000 people for agitating against the 2 X 1000 MWe nuclear reactors being built with Russian assistance. Later, 295 cases were withdrawn by the government.
When the anti-KKNPP protesters, including a good number of fishermen from Idinthakarai, which was the epicentre of the agitation, asked one Ilango and his associate Brighton of the village to give their contribution, known as ‘therippu’ (a portion of the money from the day’s catch given for a common purpose) in coastal areas, to support the protest, they refused.
They were attacked by an agitated gang, and Koodankulam police registered case against 22 persons, including Mr. Udhayakumar, convener of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), who was also coordinating the anti-KKNPP agitation, PMANE’s office-bearer M. Pushparayan and Rev. Fr. M.P. Jesuraj.
On Friday, Judicial Magistrate Barshid Begum acquitted Mr. Udhayakumar, Mr. Pushparayan and Fr. Jesuraj in the case, and sentenced the 18 others, including four women, to seven-year imprisonment.
