Chennai
M Chandrakumar has been an auto driver for close to 27 years. He has been a storyteller for even longer. The 53-year-old from Coimbatore, who also goes by the name Auto Chandran, and has six Tamil novels to his credit, had his big brush with fame this year when his Tamil novel Lock-up, was adapted into an experimental film called Visaranai, directed by National Award-winning director Vetrimaaran of Aadukalam fame.
The story was inspired by Chandrakumar’s real-life account of being wrongfully imprisoned and it won over the critics at the 72nd Venice Film Festival. They bestowed upon the Visaranai team, the Amnesty International Italia Award, for the film’s honest portrayal of human rights violations in India’s penal system. More recently, the film, which was co-produced by Dhanush, won accolades at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival.
But recognition has done little to erase the scars of Chandrakumar’s abuse at the hands of the law enforcers. In an exclusive interview, he tells DT Next, “The memories are still fresh in my head. About three decades ago, I was a young nadodi (vagabond) who had run away from home in the spur of the moment. I was literally living off the streets in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, with no place to call home. On the night of March 13, 1983, I was arrested by the patrol police for no fault of my own and placed in lock-up. What followed was 13 days of hell. I was tortured into confessing a petty crime that I hadn’t even committed.”
During the course of his interrogation, Chandrakumar learnt that back then, this was an often-used ploy by the law enforcement agencies. He says that when the police found themselves unable to apprehend the real criminals behind a certain crime, they would come under fire from their superior officers, who would demand results at any and all costs. Driven to the edge, the police would arrest random people, the most vulnerable being homeless vagabonds, who have no one to vouch for and no lawyer to fight for.
According to Chandrakumar, convictions are handed out to only one in every five cases registered. The lapses in the judiciary became evident when Chandrakumar, who was supposed to be produced in court within 15 days of being arrested, was not brought to court until after five months. To add insult to his injury, he was not provided any compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. He says, “You could say I was luckier than so many others in our country. I have heard from experts in the legal community that people have been imprisoned in jails in Uttar Pradesh for more than five years with no charge-sheet being filed.”
After his experiences with the Indian prison system, Chandrakumar, who had dropped out in Class 10, took it upon himself to become an advocate for human rights. In 2006, Justice VR Krishna Iyer, the firebrand judge and minister who reformed the Indian criminal justice system and stood up for the rights of the poor and underprivileged, honoured Chandrakumar with an award. His novel Lock-up, which he conceived during his auto trips, while being stuck in traffic jams and waiting for passengers, was judged The Best Document of Human Rights in a public ceremony in Cuddalore
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