Proper decision and appropriate measures could have saved a family, which was unnecessarily destroyed, just to satiate certain egos. This is the story of a family which was murdered by miscreants, just because it went against the entire village.

Bhuvanahalli is a backward village, on the borders of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with about 500 houses. It has a population of 2,000 people and the Mairada institute had constructed a Samudaya Bhavan (community hall) about ten years back for the villagers, to conduct programmes held in the villages.

Gangappa and his son Ravi, members of this village used to have a tiff everyday and they used physically abuse each other. In order settle their problems, the then members of the Gram Panchayat decided to separate the father and son, fearing that their quarrel would end up one day in a murder. Hence, they decided to offer the Samudaya Bhavan to Ravi, as a place of shelter.

Settled
Ravi began to stay at the Samudaya Bhavan and opened a shop here. His business flourished and he settled in life and reached the peak of success. Just then, around this time, various Shri Shakti Sanghas and the Self Help Groups came up in the village. They kept appealing to Ravi to empty the Samudaya Bhavan.

Ravi and his wife Chandramma refused to empty the Samudaya Bhavan and went ahead and even constructed a house adjoining the Samudaya Bhavan illegally. Apart from this, amidst stiff opposition from the members of the village, he even got a borewell sunk on the road, illegally. This measure hindered the path which lead to the village pond, putting the village members to a lot of hardships. Unable to bear Ravi’s harassment, more than 500 village members on November 7, 2007, marched to Kamasamudram police station and lodged a complaint against Ravi. Ravi also lodged a complaint against the village members.

 Angered by this act, the irked villagers barged into the Samudaya Bhavan and destroyed the house illegally constructed by Ravi and also the borewell sunk by him. Later on, Ravi appealed at the Kamasamudram police station stating that his life was under threat and he required suitable protection.

On December 30, 2007, Ravi and his pregnant wife Chandramma were returning home, when a few miscreants attacked them with sticks, between Chickkakalavanchi and Bhuvanahalli villages and hacked them to death. The miscreants later on, threw the bodies on the Gudipalli railway track and escaped.

Thus came the end of a family, which was destroyed just for a few demands of the villagers. If only some appropriate measures were taken to evict Ravi and his family from the Samudaya Bhavan or some peaceful measures were taken to convince Ravi, this incident would not have taken place, the public opined.