In a special gesture, the Tiruvannamalai district police is reaching out to the tribals in Jawadhu Hills seeking voluntary surrender of their country made guns to the police. In return, a general amnesty will be given to those who surrender their weapons.
This message was conveyed to a group of 11 heads of village panchayats from the hills at the interactive session held at the Jamunamarathur police station in Tiruvannamalai. A week’s time has been given for the village elders to discuss the amnesty offer with their residents and to convince those residents who are in possession of such country made guns to surrender their arms.
Interestingly, the district police have also made it clear that such surrender of weapons can be done at common places like temples, or through common people, and it does not need to be a direct surrender to the police so that their identity is also not exposed. "We have given time to the village heads to discuss the issue of illegal guns with their residents and get back to us. If they don't surrender voluntarily, then we will have to do door-to-door search for such weapons in the hills," A. Pavan Kumar Reddy, Superintendent of Police (SP), Tiruvannamalai, told The Hindu.
The meeting with the village heads comes after the district police found country made weapons during the routine vehicle check in the hills recently, prompting the Superintendent of Police to organise the meeting with tribal elders to bring an end to the possession of illegal arms in the hills.
At present, the district police do not have any data on the total number of such country made guns in the hills. Time to time, the local police seizes such weapons in the hills, with the latest such incident being in 2020 – when two people were arrested for possession of unlicensed guns in Thanipaid near Tiruvannamalai.
Surrounded with thick forest areas, Jamunamarathur taluk is located on the northern part of Jawadhu hills and comprises of 11 villages, including Amirthi, Senbagathoppu, Veerappanur, Puliyur, Melpattu, Kovilvur, Kuttakarai and Pattaraikadu in Tiruvannamalai district. Most of the residents in these tribal villages are farmers, who cultivate saffron, sugarcane, banana, vegetables like brinjal, tomatoes and green chilies.
The police says that the tribals have been posessing these guns since before independence, but at that time they kept it mainly to guard themselves from wild animals, thefts and small hunting purposes. These guns helped them (farmers) transport their produce from the hillock to its foothills in order to sell them in the local market, and then return home with their earnings safely. However, the police says, due to better roads and transport systems to these remote hilly areas, such possession of illegal arms is unnecessary in today’s times.
Five years ago, in 2016, a similar amnesty was offered to tribals in Jawadhu Hills by the district police to encourage them to surrender such illegal country made guns. That initiative was successful as a large number of such country made guns were surrendered by the local tribals.
