What Is The Thankamani Incident Of 1986

The release of the Mollywood movie Thankamani based on a real story that happened in Thankamany village of Idukki district in Kerala in 1986 has stirred discussion about the background incident of the plot. The movie directed by Ratheesh Reghunandan starring popular actor Dileep hit the big screen today. 

The story starts with a quarrel between bus operators and college students about the bus service between Kattappana and Thankamany in Idukki. The buses, due to poor road conditions on the route, would usually drop passengers at Paramada, two kilometres away from Thankamany. The passengers, however, had to pay full ticket fares up to Thankamany and then have to walk the remaining two kilometres to reach the destination.

The villagers including the students were disappointed over the bus operator’s act. One day, when a bus named Elite stopped at Paramada as usual, some students on the bus reacted strongly, leading to a heated argument between the students and the bus crew. One of the students was finally pushed out of the bus by the conductor. Upon hearing this, the villagers forcefully made the employees drive the bus up to Thankamany and kept the bus in the town. The locals demanded an apology for the behaviour of the bus employees toward the students to release the bus.

However, bus owner Devasya, a Kerala Congress worker, next day came to the village with police and tried to take back the bus. The situation led to altercation between locals and the police. When the police resorted to lathi charge to disperse crowd, the villagers started stone pelting and they followed the police with stones when the police struggled to escape with their vehicle through the bad road.

Outraged by the action of the villagers, the police armed with guns and other equipment under the command of the then circle inspector IC Thamban reached the village and reportedly unleashed violence on the locals on September 22, 1986. This led to the alleged human right violations and tragedy in the village. 

The police assembled at the village from other areas of the district and started a house-to-house search, beating male members. The police opened fire at people, leading to the death of a 60-year-old villager and the injuries of a few others. There were also alleged rape incidents during the night raid by the police in the villagers houses. Escaping the police brutality, many male members run to the nearby areas, leaving their women and kids at home alone, according to a 1986 report by India Today.

The police action had led to strong protests and heated exchanges between the opposition and the incumbent Karunakaran-led Congress government in Kerala. The chief minister Karunakaran denied the claim of rape in the assembly. Notably, when an identification parade was organised by the police to identify if police raped women, the villagers boycotted it. Talking about the identification parade, a local alleged that the police had brought outsiders to take part in the identification parade. “No woman was willing to testify that she had been raped,” the priest said, as per the report.