Poet to donate royalties to Kathua victim's family

Noted Malayalam poet KR Tony has decided to donate royalties for his literary works to the family of the eight-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a sombre post on his Facebook page, addressed to DC Books CEO Ravi Deecee, the poet said he was selling "outright" to the publisher royalties for his poetry anthologies, including Andhakaandam and Daivapaathi and a yet-to-be-published work.

"In return, I request you to hand over at least Rs five lakh to the girl's family," Tony wrote on Sunday.

"I've been writing for many years but time has proved all that writing has not contributed anything good to humanity. Why, then, do we need poetry?" he wrote.

He said the Kathua incident made him lose hope in life and called for maximum punishment for the culprits, pointing out that the victim was his daughter's age.

"I don't need poetry; we don't deserve to live. Please do this as a small act of atonement," he wrote. Tony's O Nishada! won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for poetry in 2013.

The Kathua rape and murder continued to set off outrage across Kerala with protests organised in different parts of the state. Citizen groups and political outfits have been taking the lead in protests over the incident, organised in many districts.